Chao Lingshen: 'Coming Home'
by Makuhari-Fan01
Summary: If you have wondered how I brought Chao Lingshen to the place she was in 'Ala Alba in the World of Magic. Chapter One: A Fan Dancer,' then 'Coming Home' is your answer.
1. Part 01: A Grandfather's Love

Magister Negi Magi is owned by Ken Akamatsu and Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo in Japan, and by Funimation and Ballantine - DelRey in the United States, NOT by me.

AU, CONTENT ALERT!

Depending on how you want to look at it, this story occurs before chapter one of the 'Magister Negi Magi' manga, or one-hundred _YEARS_ after it ends.

Be warned that not everything which will happen in 'Coming Home' is 'nice.'

SPOILER WARNING!:

If you have not read Ambrant Arandel's "Child of Mine," and Kafka'sdragon's "Markham Chronicles Negima," be also warned that 'Coming Home' contains what might be considered spoilers of varying importance for those stories. I recommend both stories as potential reads.

Thanks Ambrant for allowing me to borrow a few of your idea's and concepts regarding Chao Lingshen!

Thanks also Kafka's for letting me borrow a character!

In addition, 'Coming Home' also contains information and characters directly related to my story 'Ala Alba in the World of Magic. Chapter One: A Fan Dancer.' If you have wondered how I brought Chao Lingshen to the place she was in that chapter, then 'Coming Home' is your answer.

(-)

"So much suffering, just because they tried to change the worlds, even after Grandfather was able to stop their initial plans forty years earlier."  
-Chao Lingshen. "My Journey."

(-)

Chao Lingshen. 'Coming Home.'

Part 01: A Grandfather's Love.

(-)

"The footage you have just seen is of then Magister Negi Springfield conversing with a Count-Class demon during The Demon Wars. Sources related to the investigation of the disappearance of one of Professor Springfield's granddaughters have speculated that the two might be related, and that the eight-year-old girl may have been sacrificed to the demon as some form of payment..."

(-)

Chao Lingshen's parents were dead. Her twin sister was missing. Now the loving grandparents who had raised her were accused of being involved, possibly by consorting with demons, and might be taken away from her as well.

When the door to her room opened and her grandfather stepped inside, Chao, her eyes swollen with tears, hair-bun braids flying, ran to embrace the thin, gray-haired old man. "Grandfather! Grandfather... hic..., tell me what the other kids at school are saying about you isn't true!"

Negi Springfield pulled Chao into the folds of his Magister's robe, holding her close and stroking her hair in an attempt to give comfort to his grieving granddaughter. "No. Of course they're not." He held her until she stopped sobbing, then moved to sit on the rooms bed, lifting her into his lap as he did so. "Chao, I need to tell you a story, and it's not a very happy story. Can you be brave for me?"

Chao looked up at her grandfather's sad expression, then sniffed and nodded, wiping at her tears with a sleeve as she did so.

Negi gave a sad smile. "It all began with my first Mahora Academy Festival..."

(-)

"... and even though it didn't reveal what happened to your sister, that final scrying with Konoemon's mirror is how I found out what happened, or rather, for you, 'will happen'."

Chao began howling with grief. "WHY GRANDFATHER? Why will I have to fight you? Pressing herself into Negi's shoulder, she started twitching with hiccups. "I won't do it!"

Negi held his granddaughter as tightly as he dared, fearing this might be the last time he ever had the chance to embrace the child who's cruel, inevitable fate was rapidly approaching. He knew about the past, but the unfortunate loss of Konoemon's mirror during The Demon Wars had restricted his ability to divine the future. "You have to Chao. To be convincing, you'll have to fight my younger self for all you're worth, even knowing you'll fail. What's worse, for things to work out, I'll have to hurt you. You'll need a good reason to reject myself and your grandmother, enough of one they'll believe it when you volunteer for the time-travel project to stop my 'betrayal' of humanity."

Chao nodded, slowly gaining control over her tears but continuing to cling to her grandfather with all her might. Rocking her gently, he explained further about the reasons for what was happening, then told her what might happen if they failed to do what was necessary to preserve the past. "So... there's no choice is there? You and grandmother are going to leave me too..."

Sirens outside, a commotion at the front door to the house, and the voice of his wife arguing with whomever was there reached Negi's ears. "We don't have much time. Please Chao. It pains me to ask so much of you I want to die." Getting up from the bed and kneeling, Negi looked his granddaughter straight in the eyes. "You MUST do whatever it takes to get them to believe you're on their side. Otherwise they'll just program you and there'll be no chance for us. I couldn't change what happened up to now out of fear you'd disappear. Your doing this is the only chance we'll have to find your sister and be together again."

An increase in the noise level downstairs indicated to Negi his wife was now fighting the intruders.

Chao heard the commotion, and looked up at her grandfather in surprise and sudden understanding. "Hic... al... already Grandfather?"

Negi could only nod his head. If he said anything else, he wouldn't be able to continue.

Chao straightened up, and after wiping away the last of her honest tears, stood stoically before the man who was the only father she'd ever known. "I love you grandfather. I swear I'll come back and find you..."

Negi stood, tears now forming in his own eyes at what needed to be done before the enemy downstairs reached the room. Nodding, he raised his hand, watched Chao brace herself, then swung his arm down and backhanded her so hard it split a lip and knocked her down. "You stupid child! It's all your fault I've been found out! If you'd kept a proper eye on your sister this never would have happened! I ought to kill you! You're no blood of mine!"

Chao heard the noise downstairs abruptly stop, as her grandfather's shouting signaled her grandmother it was time to 'loose.' Holding her stinging face and looking up at her 'angry' grandfather, her tears started flowing again. "Ple... please Grandfather! Do... don't hurt me!" Her grandfather took a step forward, and she started to scoot back across the floor. "He... Help! Somebody please help me!"

Negi, feeling his heart breaking, took several rapid steps and knelt to place his hands around Chao's neck as she cowered against her bed. There was a rattling of the locked door's doorknob, then the loud crash of splintering wood, as a pair of corporate police broke down the door and entered the room. The two men experienced a moment of shocked hesitation at the sight of their target throttling a child, then tackled him together, knocking Negi away from Chao and pinning him to the floor. There was a short struggle as they physically and magically restrained him, then he was pulled to his feet and lead away.

Chao pressed her fists into her eyes, crying outside but smiling inside at the wink of approval her grandfather had given her just before the police stood him up.

A few moments later a woman in a business suit, wearing the logo of a Century Corporation Child Welfare worker, came into the room all smiles and knelt to try and comfort Chao.

Chao wanted to hurl at the feeling of the woman's touch and syrupy words, but she held back, doing her best to play the role of young child, hurt and betrayed by her own family. The woman eventually offered her hand, leading Chao away and onto the path to Mahora Academy, nearly one-hundred years in the past.

tsuzuku

(-)

**Author's Notes:**

**'Coming Home' takes it's roots from the various stories mentioned above, and events in the Magister Negi Magi manga..**

**In this future, government has weakened, and corporations rule all.  
(For related reference material, se 's "CyberPunk' RPG, and Ianus Games, "Heavy Gear: Life on Terra Nova.")**

**Both worlds, mundane and magical, have fought a war against each other.**

**After much suffering, the war was ended, and the two worlds united.**

**Shortly after came 'The Demon Wars.'**

**Almost forty years later, early in the year 2098, 'Coming Home' begins.**

**There is no information concerning Chao Lingshen having a 'sister,' beyond the hints that the events she want's to change are less world-shaking, and more personal.**

**As I have fun doing so on occasion, I have taken a few odd references and pictures from the mentioned stories, the Mahora-Fest arc of Magister Negi Magi, and run with it.**

**Please enjoy 'Coming Home.' My take on Chao Lingshen's motivations, and on what happens after she say's goodbye to Negi and her friends!**


	2. Part 02: Hate and Love

Magister Negi Magi is owned by Ken Akamatsu and Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo in Japan, and by Funimation and Ballantine - DelRey in the United States, NOT by me.

AU ALERT! Depending on how you want to look at it, this story occurs before chapter one of the 'Magister Negi Magi' manga, or one-hundred YEARS after it ends.

(-)

"Professor Springfield taking me into his confidence, entrusting me with such tremendous responsibility, provided the greatest personal satisfaction I've ever known in my life."  
-Ayaka Yukihiro. "My One-Hundred Year Love."

(-)

Chao Lingshen. 'Coming Home.'

Part 02: Hate and Love.

(-)

...An increase in illumination from the hovering glyphs indicated the time-displacement effect was nearing activation. Chao nodded to Evangeline, then turned to the girl who once was, and hopefully once more, would be like a mother to her. "Ku! One day, let us cross arms again!"

Without hesitation, Ku Fei nodded, an excited expression on her face. "Yeah! For sure!"

"Chao!"

Turning once more, Chao smiled at the boy she had wanted to confess to and hold ever since he had come to Mahora Academy. "So long Negi! _("I'm going to keep my promise!")_ Let us meet again!"

Negi Springfield, not sure if he'd just heard what he thought, clenched his fist. "YES! ONE DAY..." Swirling energies came down from the glyphs, there was rush of air as the time-displacement effect took hold, a bang, and then Chao Lingshen was gone. "...for sure."

(-)

Chao Lingshen screamed from physical agony worse than even the internal emotional suffering she'd experienced while fighting her grandfather at Mahora Academy.

Return to the Century Corporation's project facility after slightly more than two years at Mahora Academy, an option available to her due to the energy level from the World Tree, had carried with it a hoped for chance to escape. Unfortunately the Techno-mage from Century Corporation responsible for her body modifications, had seized her in a holding field as soon as she arrived on the projects main experimentation platform. Unable to defend herself, she spasmd and thrashed within the immaterial 'rack' of the holding field as the man poured raw power into her body. Feeling as if all her joints would explode from the coursing energy, she groaned with relief and went limp as he finally relented from his torture. As she hung helplessly, trying to catch her breath, he began raving about; "How could she have failed in her attempt to change the past? Considering all they had given her?" Not through yet, he began to fling her about the platform, crushing open the box of gifts from Class 2A, knocking over Ayaka's statue, and smashing her against the ceiling, then the floor. Stopping once more, he began ranting about how Century Corporation should have realized what would happen from the beginning. Chao was a Springfield. Such a worthless, always interfering where it didn't belong bloodline, responsible for much chaos within certain circles and only destroyed after more than one-hundred years of trying.

Promising to end the Springfield line for good, the thin, hawk-nosed, glasses wearing man used the restraint field to bring Chao's body back within his reach. Charging a MagiTech blade spell in one hand, he reached out with the other and took hold of her throat.

Unable to escape despite all her struggles, Chao begged silently for forgiveness from her grandfather for breaking the promise to come find him, then closed her eyes to await the end.

Instead of a flash of pain and the blackness of death, there was a scream not her own before she was released and dropped unceremoniously to the floor. Opening her eyes, Chao saw the strange, cute, 'plushy-dragon' Zazie Rainyday had given her with it's teeth and claws buried in her prospective murder's hand. The man was shouting for someone to; "Get it off!" and was backing away from her and swinging the 'decorated' hand about wildly.

Nearly four years suffering under the training of Century Corporation had toughened and prepared her for the mission they sent her on. Two years plus of training with Ku Fei had helped, as little as was possible while restrained, to protect her while being flung about the project platform. Six years of self-discipline, despite the overwhelming pain she felt, let her seize the sudden opportunity. Before her was Ku Fei's sword, spilled from the gift box. A short jerk on the weapon's tassel was all that was needed to free the blade from it's scabbard. Another jerk on the tie of her last hair-bun cover and a 'snap' of the wrist resulted in another hoped for weapon. Fearing the loss of the hair-bun cover's mate would preclude it's use, she was not disapointed. Standing as the techno-mage tried to get Zazie's no longer cute dragon off his hand, she chanted the mantra that reset her Magical Circuitry. After the almost physical 'pop' of the reset working, she held out her still 'live' Pactio card, said a prayer for her survival, then incanted the one spell she could do without the use of Magical Circuitry.

"Adeat!"

Striking the annoying little creature against a table-corner, causing it to let go with a yelp of pain, the Techno-mage turned at the sound of a word he'd never expected to hear within the walls of his laboratory. Standing a short distance away, her Magical Circuitry starting to glow, was a smoldering, hair-flowing with power apparition, holding some strange device and a long steel blade. Combat instincts took over and he converted and fired the MagiTech blade spell as a ranged attack. The strange device opened up into a fan that completely blocked and dispersed his effort. What he saw in the eyes that appeared over the edge of the fan after the attack's effect dissipated; cold, unadulterated hatred beyond his experience, rocked him back a step.

Chao launched herself at the number two man responsible for her pain and suffering over the last six years. 'HER' sword came up and around in a flattened parabolic arc as she moved. An attempt at defense was made, but focused against MagiTech attacks, it failed to slow down her simple steel blade. Chao finished her move-through attack in a crouch behind the man. As a necklace of blood formed, and the head and body toppled lifelessly to the floor, she stood to face the last man strong enough to stop or kill her. Observing from a short distance away was the dispassionate Director of Century Corporation. Confidence showed on the man's chubby face as she took a step forward. Confidence in his personal defenses, his MagiTech combat abilities, and belief in the skill of his bodyguards.

However, as she felt the faint vibrations indicating the large pocket-watch still thankfully hanging from her neck was fully active, Chao knew she had a hidden advantage. Negi, as expected, had destroyed Cassiopeia 3. She had recognized the turning point of the battle, as described by her Grandfather, and simply refrained from using Cassiopeia 2.

Cassiopeia.

HER invention. NOT one given for use in the mission by Century Corporation. Developed at Mahora Academy, from information and technology gleaned from Century Corporation, together with the help of the amazingly like-minded Satomi Hakase.

Cassiopeia 2.

Pressing all three buttons on the device's side placed it under the control of the shock-protected A.I. in her barely functional battlesuit. Recharged by proximity to her Magical Circuitry during the final fight four-thousand meters above Mahora Academy, Cassiopeia 2 spooled up to full power and Chao simply vanished from the sight of her tormentors.

Shock and surprise was what the bodyguards saw on the Director of Century Corporation's face as Chao appeared again and ran him through from behind with her sword. His attention and defenses focused on her previous position, he fell easily to her attack.

Six years.

Six years of emotional and physical suffering. Six years striving for the CHANCE for a better future. Nearly four years of living a necessary lie, capped by over two more of telling friends incomplete truths and turning them into enemies.

Against all that, the agony caused by using the Magical Circuitry meant nothing. Screams of death and pain meant nothing. Having held herself in check for six years, Chao finally lost control. All that mattered to her was the cathartic avenging of herself upon those responsible for all she had been through.

Any bodyguard who might choose to stand against her now risked their master's fate. Some, gratefully few, tried to do so and died in useless battle against the level of power provided by the Magical Circuitry and Cassiopeia 2. Most, along with everyone else she encountered in her movement through the building, intelligently, ran for their lives from the seemingly unstoppable fiend in their midst.

Eventually, the adrenaline rush of her nearly berserk rage ran it's course, and Chao found herself standing, covered in blood and soot, at the entrance to the Century Corporation facility. Behind her, nearly everything was in ruin or flames. Staring past the shattered door and it's promise of freedom, she couldn't find the strength to move. Her grandfather's stories and instructions had not extended beyond simple escape from this place. Now, completely exhausted, she could no longer think clearly enough to know what to do. Hearing a piteous mewing, she looked down and beheld Zazie's little dragon, padding at her shin and looking up, despite it's own bruises, with amazingly obvious concern.

"Did you burn my statue along with everything else?"

Chao started and looked up at the unexpected voice to see an oddly familiar, mature, dignified woman standing unruffled within the wreckage of the Century Corporation facility's entrance. Surrounded by Security Troops bearing the insignia of the Yukihiro Group, the woman held one hand on a cane, more from style than necessity, modeled after the staff of a mage they both knew. Even with the completely gray hair, there was no mistaking the regal bearing and attitude of someone she'd seen just a few hours, or, nearly one-hundred years ago. "Cla...Class-Rep?"

Ayaka Yukihiro ignored the worried looks of her guards and held out her hand to Chao Lingshen. "Let it go Chao. You're home. You've done what Professor Springfield wanted. Because of this 'incident,' I now have the excuse I've wanted and needed to shut this corporation down."

Chao took a step forward, dropping both the sword and her fan, and extended a hand. She tried to take another step, but her shoulders fell, her eyes rolled back, and she collapsed, nearly landing on her surprised dragon friend.

Ayaka brushed aside a concerned Raymond Tatsumiya, Yukihiro Group's Chief of Security, and went forward to kneel next to Chao. With the help of a younger guard, she gently rolled the begrimed Chao over, cradling the girl's head in her lap after doing so. Even with her face now soft and almost completely relaxed, the very young and vulnerable looking Chinese girl still had just a hint of understandable worry showing at the corners of her eyes.

"Lady Ayaka, what should we do?"

Ayaka, tears forming in her eyes, looked up at the tanned visage of Mana Tatsumiya's descendant. Even after so many years, those of her classmate's bloodline still showed their ancestor's emotionless look when they were being serious. "Get the fires out. We've got to find evidence of where they're keeping the kids and the Springfields before they do anything to harm them." Glancing outside, she could see could see more of Yukihiro Group's Security Troops rounding up the employee's who had fled from Chao's rampage. "Corporate and Governmental fools! Pushing for that idiotic Witch-hunt against Professor Springfield to cover their own mistakes, just because he ended The Demon Wars by talking with Graf Herrmann against their wishes. Heads WILL roll over this mess! If I have anything to say about it..."

Saluting, Tatsumiya nudged the shoulder of the younger guard, who diligently stood watching for any threats to Chao and Ayaka. "Markham. Stay here and watch these two." After the guard nodded, he turned away and started to shout orders at his other subordinates.

Looking back down at Chao, Ayaka brushed aside a few strands of hair as one of her own tears fell and cleaned a streak of soot from the girl's face. "Rest now Chao. You've done your job. It's up to me to finish things."

tsuzuku

(-)

**Author's Notes:**

**Importantly, Chao Lingshen's 'blown' Magical Circuitry in this case is capable of being reset. She simply needed a chance to do so. Having everything become active in the presence of her grandfather's younger-self would be troublesome, so she was forced to wait to do so.**

**Why does the circuitry work? Because the place she's at is filled with magic.**

**If you can guess who I based the men Chao kills off of, then you definately know your manga/anime!**

**Even in this AU, Chao Lingshen told everyone the truth. She want's to change the world to help avert future tragedy. (The disappearance of her sister.) She simply declines to tell them the COMPLETE truth. Especially that if she does succeed at Century Corporation's plan, things will be better for a while, then get WORSE because of complications that arise. (An earlier, bloodier war between the worlds, leaving both more vulnerable during the also earlier Demon Wars.)**

**Personally, the most important thing to Chao is that she survives, and can continue to search for her grandparents and twin sister.**

**For those of you perhaps skeptical that Ayaka Yukihiro could still be alive:**

**My great-grandmother, born in the 1890's, with nothing more than farm-work and home-medicine, lived to be one-hundred and four. Ayaka Yukihiro, with advances in science and medicine, the finances of the Yukihiro Group, and possibly even with magical enhancements provided by Negi Springfield, could easily live to be One-hundred and Fourteen, or more...**

**Raymond Tatsumiya is Mana Tatsumiya's descendant. Mana finally relents, and marries Serizawa of the Mahora Biathlon Team.**

**Markham is the descendant of Phillip Markham Jr. of "Markham Chronicles Negima," a Negima story by Kafka'sdragon. More on Markham soon. Thanks again Kafka's for letting me borrow Markham.**

**Whatever loops or branches time theory might contain, in this case time is linear. For Century-Corporation to find out if Chao Lingshen succeeded in her mission, they would have to wait the equivalent of the two-plus years she was at Mahora Academy. Another obvious assumption is that they would be shielded somehow from the hoped for changes.**


	3. Part 03: Children of Love

Magister Negi Magi is owned by Ken Akamatsu and Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo in Japan, and by Funimation and Ballantine - DelRey in the United States, NOT by me.

AU ALERT! Depending on how you want to look at it, this story occurs before chapter one of the 'Magister Negi Magi' manga, or one-Hundred YEARS after it ends.

(-)

"Be careful what you wish for, you may get it."

-Anju Okochi. Preface: "A Record of the Travels of Anju Okochi."

(-)

Chao Lingshen. 'Coming Home.'

Part 03: Children of Love.

(-)

Raymond Tatsumiya had to force his bile down as he viewed the scene before him.

Eko Izumi and her team, heaving, had come running back from the area they were searching, and had barely gotten out a report before all three were on their knees retching.

Leading the rest of the search and rescue detail towards that area, he signaled them to wait, then proceeded forward himself. What he saw after entering what seemed to be booking area of a jail was a greater carnage than what Chao Lingshen had wrought at Century Corporation.

Angered at the idea they were too late, it took a few moments for him to realize all the bodies were adults. Guards. A few technicians and scientist types. All apparently killed, considering the nature and form of their wounds, by the work of a twin-blade. There was not a single child's body amongst all the corpses.

Stepping carefully around the various strewn bodies and pools of blood, Tatsumiya went over towards the door leading back into the apparent 'cell' area. Passing several of the guards, he noticed almost all of them had their Sagita automatic weapons set for 'single-shot.' As if they were getting ready to go and execute all the 'prisoners.' Two, the pair closest to the door, had weapons set on full automatic, with the bolts locked open on empty clips. Around them were dozens of expended Sagita casings. Whatever, or whomever had performed all this 'execution' apparently hadn't cared, since both were still dead.

Finally reaching the door, Tatsumiya eased it open with the barrel of his weapon. Inside was a hallway lined with closely spaced doors. Cautiously stepping up to the first, he risked a quick glance through a small window, then a second when there appeared to be nothing threatening. Inside the sparsely furnished room was a young, thin girl, lying in simple pajamas on a bed and reading some kind of journal. Checking the door's security locks, he found them inactive, so he touched the control pad and opened the door.

Inside, the black-haired girl looked up in mortal fear as his equipment covered form filled her doorway. Clutching the journal protectively to her chest, she backed herself rapidly into the far corner of the bed and started shaking. Slowly lowering his weapon, Tatsumiya held out his hand. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm from the Yukihiro Group. we're here to take you home."

Having apparently learned to be untrusting during her confinement, the girl watched Tatsumiya with wide eyes for several moments, then slowly started to relax as he stood waiting patiently for an answer. Eventually, she stopped shaking and timidly pointed at a small package on the table next to her bed. "Miss Tsuku said people from Yukihiro Group were coming to get us... She told me that package was for you..."

Suddenly, uncharacteristically curious, Raymond Tatsumiya completely dropped his guard and walked over to the table. Picking up the package, he found the paper secured with origami-like folds. Carefully removing it, he found the package contained a movie chip box. Written on the inside of the folded paper was a note in precise, flowing script:

_"While I am guilty of the sin of helping to hold these children against their will, I cannot, even as a contracted mercenary, see them slaughtered for no good reason by those who took them originally. If nothing else, my grandmother would never forgive me if I allowed these children, some orphans now like she was, to come to mortal harm._

_If you wish to at least partially understand why I feel thus, I suggest watching the enclosed movie. My grandmother grew to like it late in her life, and I eventually grew fond of it as well."_

_Sorry for the mess, but they deserved it,_

_A Mercenary, like my mother before me..._

"...tian Tatsumiya! Respond please!"

Tatsumiya started and reached up to adjust his helmet mike. "I'm here, I'm okay. I believe I've found the children." Looking down, the girl had resumed reading her journal, but was watching him warily. "Get someone who isn't as sensitive as Izumi to come in here and get the bodies in the outer room cleaned up. As soon as that's done, we can bring the children out."

Receiving a positive answer, Tatsumiya smiled down at the still nervous girl, then looked at the movie he held. Between two lines of small, black-and-white photos, superimposed over a city map, was a stylized flame. Inside the flame was the movie's title:

"Is Paris Burning?"

Even knowing where Paris was, the title still had no meaning to him. Obviously, he would soon be spending time in front of a viewer.

Risking an occasional glance up at the non-threatening but still scary man, Anju Okochi continued reading the fascinating book Miss Tsuku had given her; "A Record of the Travels of Akira Okochi." Great-Grandmother Akira had died several years ago, without ever talking about her early life much. Getting to read about her amazing adventures made Anju hope that some day, she could have an adventure as well. Risking one more look at the man staring at the movie-chip box, she returned to her great-grandmother's account of her escape from the mage Dolnegus...

(-)

_("So Little Chao, you want to help our little project to stop your grandfather from betraying humanity?"_

_Chao Lingshen shook with emotion, a few tears showed on her cheeks as she looked up and straight into the eyes of the Director of Century Corporation. "Yes Sir! My grandfather was responsible for my parent's fate, and I'm sure his actions lead to my twin sister's disappearance. I'll do anything you want if it means I can stop that!")_

Fighting. Always fighting. She was doomed to forever suffer from or fight the men who were responsible for the situation she was in...

_(Even before full recovery from the excruciatingly painful, 'of necessity' anesthesia-free tattoo-like surgery required to give her the magical glyph-circuitry granting her access to and use of high-level magic, Chao had to return to her schooling and physical training. Schooling she enjoyed, she absorbed everything they pushed on her, and more still in her rare free time. Physical training wasn't as enjoyable. Her trainers were harsh to the point of brutality, and she suspected they were simply enjoying hurting a 'Springfield.' This she endured, giving up a little sleep each night to meditate and practice._

_One day, an instructor attempted something inappropriate, before really knowing what had happened, she nearly killed him._

_It was two days later when she finally woke up from the 'punishment' she received for 'insubordination' towards an instructor.)_

...or her beloved grandfather...

_(That first punch, knocking her grandfather's younger-self into a column, then a marble gazebo, nearly broke Chao's heart. Hoping to put an end to things quickly, knowing it probably wouldn't work, she tried to knock the young Negi out._

_Unfortunately? Fortunately? She wasn't really sure, Setsuna Sakurazaki and Kaede Nagase showed up to stop her.)_

...Fighting again and again. Locked in an inescapable, vicious circle that would never end...

_(Restrained by the holding field of the Techno-mage who performed her body-modification surgery, Chao watched helplessly as he readied his Saber-spell, then, knowing death meant the nightmare would begin again, screamed in despair as he ran her through with it...)_

...Laughter... Joyful... Unrestrained... Instead of sounds and dreams of pain and death, voices in her mind expressing the language of life seemed to be calling to her...

(-)

Chao Lingshen woke to the sounds of children playing. Part of her mind was shouting a clarion call for her to get up, to run for her life, but the unexpected happy sounds she could hear calmed that already fading voice into silence.

Sitting up, the covers of the bed she was lying in fell away, and Chao found herself dressed in the nightgown she'd worn at Mahora Academy. Around her were the familiar, but amusingly smaller sights of the room she used to live in, in her grandfather's house. Both things triggered a flood of memories, and she found her tears flowing without letup. No sound, just tears at the thought that despite her dreams, the nightmare she'd been living was hopefully, finally, almost over.

Being able to summon the Pactio artifact her grandfather had given her as a birthday present meant he was still alive, but he was over one-hundred years old. How much longer would he live? Told not to actively seek out any evidence of her grandparent's fate, she had only heard they had been convicted of her sister's disappearance, and sent to a corporate prison. Of her sister, she had heard only that her body was never found. A chance overheard comment between the leaders of Century Corporation made her feel certain they were involved, but there had been no way to investigate without risking discovery of her true purpose.

Swinging herself slowly around and into a sitting position, Chao found without surprise her Mahora-Logo house-slippers waiting beside the bed. Clearly, Ayaka Yukihiro had been told about the plan, and had made sure her return from the past would be as painless as possible. It was just as clear that her grandfather had used Konoemon's mirror quite soon after her departure, otherwise her possessions from Mahora would have been lost a long, long time ago. Feeling weak and spent, but recovering quickly with each step, she went over to her closet, reached inside for a housecoat and put it on. Pausing briefly to retrieve her Pactio card from where it lay on the night stand beside the bed, she placed it in one of the housecoat's pockets and left the room.

Leaning against the railing and looking down from the upstairs balcony was like looking through a window into the past. Down in the living room, Chao saw a Chestnut-haired girl with dog-ears and a tail wrestling with a tall, squint-eyed boy sporting a long pony-tail. Another boy with wings sat reading a book with a chocolate-haired girl and another timid-seeming girl with short, dark hair. Next to them, a long haired girl sat drawing, while twin boys and a blonde girl who seemed to have fangs sat on the floor playing with Zazie's plushy-dragon.

"Feeling better now?"

Chao turned to see Ayaka Yukihiro, dressed casually, standing at the top of the stairs. "How long have I been out?"

Ayaka walked over to watch the children with Chao. "Off-and-on for about a week. You were in a hospital with a fever, but it broke yesterday, so I brought you here. This is the first time you've been lucid enough to move on your own."

Chao straightened up, gripping the balcony railing so hard her knuckles began to turn white. "What about the men I've killed... what's going to happen to me?"

Ayaka reached out and placed her hand on Chao's shoulder. "Those leftover fools from The Demon Wars died conducting illegal energy experimentation! Not only that, they were involved in child endangerment, kidnapping and murder!" Ayaka smiled as Chao expression became one of surprise. "You, Chao Lingshen, are the hero who infiltrated Century Corporation at my request and found the information that let the Yukihiro Group rescue all the children they grabbed and shut them down! They attempted to kill you, instead of calling outside corporate oversight investigators like they should have, so all your actions were taken in absolute self-defense. Thanks to your program, along with Chachamaru and Chisame's MahoNet company, I'll make sure that's all that ever gets out!"

Chao felt her surprised expression change into one of pride. "Chachamaru's still around?"

Ayaka gave Chao's shoulder a reassuring squeeze and let go. "Still going strong. Carrying a baby and delivery was a bit rough, but she even has a daughter, thanks to Professor Springfield..."

Chao's face fell, and Ayaka knew she'd hit a sore spot. "What about my Grandparents? Do you know where they are?"

Ayaka's face darkened. Even after nearly a century Chao saw with mild amusement she'd not kicked the habit of chewing her thumbnail when she was troubled. "I don't know. Yukihiro Group and ChiuCom tired to keep track of them, but they both supposedly died a year ago. Yukihiro Group's lawyers tried to find out where they were buried, but the records of where were conveniently 'sealed' to 'protect their privacy.' Hopefully their convictions will be overturned, considering the evidence we found in Century Corporation's database, but as for where they are? We don't know yet..."

Chao nodded and gave Ayaka an odd look. "You 'know' he's alive though... don't you?"

Ayaka reached into the blouse pocket next to her heart and pulled out a Tarot card of a design familiar to Chao. "As do you..."

Chao drew out her own Pactio card. Both still contained all their information, indicating the initiating Magister still lived. "Grandfather gave mine to me on my eighth birthday. After explaining to me what a Pactio card was, he transmuted it into those hair-bun covers I always wore, and made me swear I'd never touch them until 'the time was right.' I didn't understand, not completely, but I kept my promise, and it made a big difference when I got back..."

Ayaka returned her card to it's place. "Mine was the day he took me into his confidence. He wanted to make sure I understood how serious things were, so he finally gave me the kiss I'd always wanted." Chao put her card away as well, and Ayaka could see the young girl was trying hard to control her emotions. "Don't worry Chao, we'll find him."

Taking a deep breath and ending it with a smile, Chao nodded and leaned back against the balcony rail. "Is anyone else still alive besides you and Chachamaru? What about all these children? Whose kids are they?"

Ayaka's expression grew sad as she placed a hand on the railing and looked down at the children playing below. "Satomi Hakase is still around I think, but I haven't seen her for two or three years, so I'm not sure. Yuuna's still alive. She says it's something Evangeline did for her. Zazie disappeared after High School. I don't know if she's still alive or not. Chisame was murdered two years ago by being petrified and smashed after starting a MahoNet dive, but she's still 'alive' somehow and running ChiuCom with Chachamaru through her Chiu 'virtual reality' persona. Konoka and Setsuna are still alive and living in Kyoto. Yue Ayase's still alive. She's a 'Holy Terror' philosophy professor and Dean of Mahora. I think she's going to retire though, a friend of hers from Ariadne she met during the 2A English Culture Research Club summer trip died last year. Since Nodoka and Haruna died so long ago, the loss of her last true friend hit her really hard."

Chao nodded, easily understanding what the loss of friends meant.

Ayaka grinned as the winged boy started fussing when the chocolate-haired girl started trying to preen his wings. "All of these children are descendants of girls from our class, three or four generations on. Some idiot in Century Corporation got the bright idea that 2A was special, and started grabbing the kids to try and find out if they were as well. Other than ignoring the few direct descendants who work for Yukihiro Group, whoever they hired to do the job didn't much care how they did it. A lot of these kid's parents died, murdered in cold blood, or killed defending their children. Unfortunately, whoever lead the kidnappers was never caught." Chao gave Ayaka a look of hope, but the hopes were dashed as the older woman shook her head. "So far we haven't found any conclusive evidence they took your sister. If they did, she would have been the first one, but there's no proof."

Chao sighed, then pointed at the chestnut-haired girl. "That girl must be through Chizuru and Kotaro. With those ears and tail, he must have had strong genes for the traits to still show up in his descendant!"

Ayaka nodded as the twins both pulled the girl's tail, causing her to yelp. "Well, he and Setsuna seem to be the strongest, though part of it is the addition of other blood from the parent races." With a nod, Ayaka indicated the boy with the wings. "He's descended from Setsuna. The chocolate-haired girl is obviously through Konoka. There's some very strange things involved in how that worked out no one ever chose to explain to me. The other girl next to them is through Nodoka. She met a boy in Dracogenia and apparently fell for him during the 2A summer trip. When Yue went to Ariadne to study after High School, Nodoka went to Dracogenia. Makie and Fuka's blood is in the twins, and Fumika and Kaede's in the long haired boy."

Chao felt her eyes go wide as the tall boy produce a single Shadow-Split and started chasing the twins to force them to apologize for their misdeed. "I suppose he want's to be a ninja?"

Ayaka rubbed at her temple. "Kaede went missing during The Demon Wars. I think her loss is what made Professor Springfield willing to go talk to Wilhelm Josef von Herrmann about stopping the wars. Sasuke's fascinated by the previous details of his ancestors legacy, so, yes. He want's to be a ninja." Chao gave a chuckle, so Ayaka smiled. "Most of the kids we rescued had relatives to go to, so they've gone home already. Kazumi Asakura never married, but Sayo Aisaka was reborn through her somehow. Their descendant Michiko lost her job over insisting her editor print stories proclaiming Professor Springfield was innocent when nobody wanted to believe it. She's working for ChiuCom now. Sakurako's descendants all have had her insane luck. When they tried to kidnap her great-grandson, the perps vehicle got run over by a truck and the kid escaped without a scratch. Misora, Natsumi and Akira's descendants are all home already. That little blonde girl is actually Evangeline and Nagi's daughter! When Nagi showed up to lift her curse, she wouldn't take no for an answer. More wierdness there, considering Eva's 'age,' but I guess that makes Dawn your great-grandaunt or something. There's more strangeness about aging involved I can't explain, but after Nagi died, Evangeline vanished, and I wound up taking care of Dawn. Of course, you know about Satsuki, Asuna, and Ku Fei."

Glancing over at Ayaka, Chao realized she seemed to be watching the little blonde girl with a hint of sadness. "What about you Ayaka?"

Ayaka gave a start, then turned away from Chao. "I... I took over the Yukihiro Group after high school. I've never had time. Besides, there's been Evangeline's daughter for me to care for."

Chao gave an amused chuckle. "Never got over Grandfather did you?" Ayaka's furious blush was all the answer Chao needed. "Sorry! Though if something had happened, I'd have to stop calling you 'Class-Rep,' and start calling you Granny-Ayaka!"

Ayaka fumed and made a face as Chao fought to contain her amusement, but quickly relaxed and became sad looking again. "There was another young man once... but I don't know what happened to him..." As the preamble strains of the 'Imperial March' beginning to drift up from her cell-phone, Ayaka quickly pulled out the device and flipped it open. "This is Lady Ayaka...WHAT? Is a Security Osprey on it's way here? Did Tatsumiya bring the special personnel and equipment?... Good. We'll be waiting outside." Snapping the phone shut, Ayaka turned to Chao with an excited look. "Chisame found where your grandparents are! Come on!"

Downstairs, the children in the living room gathered excitedly around Chao and Ayaka until they saw the serious looks on the two adult's faces.

Ayaka held a brief conversation with the leader of her small bodyguard and the house's guard contingent, then turned to Kaede's descendant. "Sasuke. Chao and I have to go. I'm leaving my personal guards, but I'm placing you and Dawn in charge of these Children." Ayaka pointed at Evangeline's daughter, who nodded without saying a word. "If anything happens, get everyone into Professor Springfield's lab and seal yourself in. Understand?"

So carefree moments before, the tall boy with the thin pony-tail nodded gravely. "Yes Ma'am, Lady Ayaka. Get inside, and don't open up for anyone except you, Big Sister Chao, or your Security Chief Mister Tatsumiya."

Ayaka nodded, then looked at all the suddenly serious children. "All of you. Listen to what Sasuke and Dawn tell you. Chao and I will be back." Every child silently nodded in accent, so Ayaka turned to lead Chao out of the house.

As she followed Ayaka, Chao could already hear the sound of blades beating through the air. Just as she turned to identify the source, an Osprey VTOL flew in from behind the house and flared out to land a short distance away. Even before the craft was completely settled, a crewman was shouting from the open rear ramp for them to hurry.

Ayaka lead Chao onto the Osprey and went straight to Tatsumiya as the tilt-rotor lifted away. "What's the situation?"

Tatsumiya shouted to make himself heard as the Osprey's rear ramp slowly closed. "Hasegawa couldn't find them because she was looking too close to Century Corporation. She found them at what was as secondary search interest when Eva Springfield sent in a micro-burst report from that company doing deep-sleep research for space exploration she infiltrated last month. She finally broke into their mainframe. It seems they've been up to no good, just like the investigators in your Corporate Oversight Division thought. Eva's report confirmed Professor Springfield and Ku Fei were both there."

Ayaka pounded a fist against the Osprey's cockpit bulkhead in frustration. "That's not even an hour from here! I can't believe he's been so close all this time!"

Tatsumiya growled under his breath. "There's more Lady Ayaka. The compound itself isn't very big, not even a quarter what Century Corporation was, but it's heavily guarded, and one more thing..." Tatsumiya grimaced as Ayaka nodded for him to give her the bad news. "We didn't have time to gather a proper team Lady Ayaka. Eva's report indicated Professor Springfield was in bad shape, and she thinks they plan on doing something to him today. The Princess was coming to see Lady Chao, and might be close enough to help, but this one team was all that was ready on such short notice."

Chao noticed Ayaka chewing on her thumbnail again, and reached out to place her hand on the older woman's shoulder. "Let me help! Even without my battlesuit, I'm a master of Shao-Lin, and I can still use combat magic!"

Ayaka look at barely restrained Chao with a glimmer of hope. "And if you had your battlesuit Chao, completely repaired?"

Chao felt her expression become icy. "Then no-one, _NO-ONE! _Could stop me."

Ayaka nodded and turned to her Chief of Security. "Get it." As Tatsumiya moved to open a storage bin, Ayaka gave Chao a grave look. "I can't order you to help, but if you do, you'll have to follow my or Security Chief Tatsumiya's orders. Understand?"

Chao straightened up. "Yes Ma'am!"

Stepping closer, Ayaka leaned in to whisper in Chao's ear. "Please. I'm asking you as a friend. Don't do anything stupid. If it's worst case, you'll be all the family you sister has, if we can find her."

Plainly considering such a thing, Chao gave Ayaka a startled look, then relaxed and nodded. "Very well, Class Rep."

Tatsumiya brought over a wide box and opened it up for Chao. Inside was the repaired and refitted 'Chao Bao Zi' battlesuit, along with her sword, complete with a new scabbard. Chao ran her hand longingly across the suit's material, then handed her Pactio card to Ayaka and began stripping down to change.

Ayaka smiled as Chao pulled the suit out of it's box and noticed that the destroyed Cassiopeia 3 had been replaced. "We couldn't repair that destroyed device, so we replaced it with the one you had around your neck. I hope that is to your satisfaction, 'Miss Final Boss?'"

Chao watched the faintly glowing Cassiopeia 2 for a moment, then smiled at Ayaka and continued changing.

Every Security Guard on the Osprey turned politely away as Chao changed except one. Fascinated by what he had been told about her by Chief Tatsumiya and Lady Ayaka, a team leader named Stephan Markham saw not the unclothed girl, nor the gore-covered apparition he's seen at Century Corporation, but a decisive, determined young woman he wanted to get to know better... If they both survived.

Chao finished changing. After tying the sword across her back, flexing all four limbs to settle the tight-fitting material and adjusting an ear-throat com-set handed to her by Tatsumiya, she let out a loud sigh of satisfaction as the battlesuit powered up. "Perfect. I've always loved this suit. Especially after I disabled the overrides those Century Corporation people installed in it." As she took a pair of hair bun covers out of the box and began putting them on, she noticed a young male security trooper behind Ayaka looking right at her and flashing a 'V' sign. Feeling a slight flush, she nodded and took her Pactio card back from Ayaka, summoned the fan, then tucked it into her belt. "May this be the last time I ever have to wear it!"

Ayaka smiled at Chao's words, then held out a small box Tatsumiya had just placed in her hand.

Chao's eyes grew wide as Ayaka opened the box to reveal four specially colored rifle bullets. "'Forced-Displacement' bullets! Where...?"

Ayaka grinned. "The last time I saw Satomi Hakase, she said these were a gift to the person who was most like a sister to her. Even after Mana Tatsumiya proved the latent magical energy present in this world is strong enough for them to work normally, Satomi wanted to be sure, so she modified these four to hold an internal power-source. She said they won't 'fire,' but that you could still 'punch' with them."

Chao nodded in thanks, tucking the four bullets into storage slots in her battlesuit's belt as Ayaka turned towards the cockpit of the Osprey.

"Pilot Officer Farandole! Can't this thing go any faster?"

Up in the Osprey's cockpit, the Inu-Jin pilot leaned out to look back at Ayaka, after a quick nod from Security Chief Tatsumiya, he returned to his controls. "YES MA'AM! HANG ON!"

Responding to Ayaka and the pilot's commands, the whine from the Osprey's motors increased, and the tilt-rotor nosed down slightly and surged ahead.

tsuzuku

(-)

**Author's Notes:**

**"Is Paris Burning" Is a 1966 movie dealing with the liberation of Paris from the Nazis in World War II. The salient point is that the German military governor of Paris, General Dietrich von Choltitz, upon being ordered to destroy the historical treasures of Paris as the Allied armies approached, refused to do so. Wiki has a simple, but useful page about the movie.**

**Similarly, 'Miss Tsuku,' Shinmei-Ryu bodyguard-mercenary and granddaughter of Tsukuyomi, refuses to obey Century Corporation's final, spiteful, 'destroy all witnesses and evidence' order to slaughter the captured, descendant children of Class A.**

**Chao is telling the truth once more. Parents are responsible, to a point, for their children. Also, Negi Springfield's actions did lead to the disappearance of Chao's twin sister. Indirectly. An enemy or foe taking action based on something you've done is a consequence one must consider. Don't you think?**

**My appologies if I failed to mention a favorite Class A girl.**


	4. Part 04: No Greater Love

Magister Negi Magi is owned by Ken Akamatsu and Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo in Japan, and by Funimation and Ballantine - DelRey in the United States, NOT by me.

AU ALERT! Depending on how you want to look at it, this story occurs before chapter one of the 'Magister Negi Magi' manga, or one-Hundred YEARS after it ends.

CONTENT ALERT! I can't say, as to do so would be too much of a spoiler. Let's just say things happen, and leave it at that for now.

Many thanks again to Kafka'sdragon for the inspiration of his story; 'Markham Chronicles Negima,' and the use of the Markham family name.

Also thanks to Ambrant Arandel, for his Ku - Negi paring in 'Child of Mine,' which helped inspire 'Coming Home.'

(-)

"Negi explained everything to me when Konoka finally cured my petrification. He told me that even though many plans were already set in motion, the ultimate decision to go forward rested with me...  
... the answer was obvious, and he knew it would be. After all, we both had promises to keep."  
-Ku Springfield. As told to Michiko Aisaka, Author of: "Resolution: Aftermath of 'The Demon Wars.'"

(-)

Chao Lingshen. 'Coming Home.'

Part 04: "No Greater Love..."

(-)

During six necessary years spent in corporate prisons, Ku Springfield had been starved, deprived of sleep, tormented in various ways, even beaten unconscious twice, all in an attempt to produce a confession for a crime she and her husband did not commit.

Amateurs.

Failure in battle against Graf Wilhelm Josef von Herrmann and SEVENTY YEARS spent petrified with those of her husband's boyhood village, before everyone was finally cured by Konoka Konoe, had taught her many things about endurance and patience. If that had not broken her, nothing the people who had held the two of them for the last six years could do ever would.

Now, the end was near. Outside the cell, Ku could hear her keepers running around like beheaded chickens in response to some crisis. Sitting on the floor and assuming a meditative pose, she began to reach out with senses honed by over a century of practice. Physical senses told her of the rapid approach of something that seemingly caused a rhythmic vibration in the ground like the rapid beating of several paddles. Mental senses told her that something carried the aura of the Mahora Academy classmate, friend, and beloved granddaughter she'd waited one-hundred years to see again.

Focusing on the gathering of her ki, Ku waited until she heard and felt a heavy turbo-propped vehicle fly dangerously low across the building she was in, then stood. "Time to go."

(-)

Interior lighting coming from a single deep-sleep capsule provided the main illumination in a laboratory room full of monitoring and support equipment. A thin, gray-haired old man lay inside, connected to the capsule's support systems via numerous tubes and wires.

Stepping into the area of illumination, a short, gray-haired boy reached out to lay a hand on the capsule's glass. "Finally, my old friend... After one-hundred years of your interference, my revenge upon you will be complete. I'll be able to absorb all that energy you still possess, transfer it into this cursed construct body of mine, and extend my existence for another two-hundred years."

Negi Springfield had been so angry with him after finding out how his old rival had been involved in various things over the last hundred years. Weak-minded as always though, he had allowed himself to be placed where he was now for the simple 'promise' his wife would be spared. Such a fool. His trusting nature, and by extension, his belief in his friends, had always been a source of annoyance. Now it would be used against him. When he was dead, his wife would be placed in this capsule, and the energy she possessed transferred to him as well.

Filled with irritation, the gray-haired boy turned towards his desk as a loud 'ping' and a colored flashing light announced a call from his Security Chief. Interruption this close to the completion of a plan ALLWAYS meant trouble. Walking over to the desk, he reached out to press the intercom's activation button. "What is it? I'm busy finishing an experiment!"

On the other end of the intercom, the speaker hesitated momentarily before proceeding. "Director Moirae! An Osprey from the Yukihiro Group Corporate Oversight Division is approaching. They intend to land and request our cooperation in an investigation concerning the recent trouble at Century Corporation. What shall we do?"

Moirae slammed his fist down on the desk. _("Interfering harpy!")_ Yukihiro Group and ChiuCom were why it had taken so long to acquire Springfield after he'd been convicted of 'sacrificing' his granddaughter to demons. He'd managed to deal with Hasegawa, but he'd never been able to get near Yukihiro. _("If she's here, it means she found something connecting this company to Century Corporation significant enough to send in her investigatory goons!")_ Things were too close to completion to stop now. "Resist them."

Despite the intercom being audio-only, Moirae could easily picture the incredulous look on the man's face. "S...SIR?"

Upset by the need to start hurrying his preparations, Moirae felt himself growing increasingly angry. "I said if they try to land; Resist them!"

Now the man began to sound desperate. "President Moirae! Yukihiro Group has corporate oversight authority in this area! If we fire on them... they'll shut the company down!"

Moirae walked over to the sleep-capsules controls and began adjusting them to facilitate the transfer of energy procedure. "Do I have to repeat myself! I don't pay you to ask questions! Besides, If they're here, I'm sure they know you and your men were involved in the kidnappings by Century Corporation! That's life, or the death penalty! Your only chance is to destroy the Yukihiro Group personnel, then escape before another team shows up!"

After a considered pause, the man snapped out an insolent; "YES SIR! _'President'_ Moirae!" and the intercom line went dead.

Moirae began finishing his adjustment of the sleep-capsule's controls. There was no time for a complete transfer of energy, but still enough to kill Negi Springfield, and allow him to hide long enough to find someone else to drain. Just as he was about to activate the final control, a metallic hand closed painfully around his wrist.

"I cannot permit you to harm Papa Springfield."

Moirae stared incredulously at the gynoid secretary from the reception desk outside his lab. Normally just a function-bot, noisy whenever it moved, the thing had somehow managed to enter the sealed lab and get close enough to touch him. There was a small pulse of light from the gynoid's eyes, and a new voice came from it's voicebox.

"I recognize you now, "'Moirae' Averruncus! Remember me? The old woman you MURDERED when she was helpless? Well, you didn't quite kill me, and I think you know what 'payback' is..."

It's vice-like grip on his arm preventing an immediate escape, the gynoid secretary delivered a punch to his stomach that sent Moirae flying across the sleep-capsule to crash into a test equipment table. He barely managed to avoid the follow up attack, and the next before finally fighting back. Displaying tremendous flexibility, the gynoid dodged his counter-attack, and ended up standing in front of the sleep-capsules controls. Apparently willing to wait there forever, the gynoid entered a defensive crouch and focused her attention on him with single-minded intensity. Outside the lab, Moirae could hear the faint sound of fighting as his private security dueled with the Yukihiro Group personnel. Time was on the gynoid's side, and if he didn't get rid of her, he wouldn't be able to transfer ANY energy.

Tensing, Moirae executed a shundo towards his desk, knocked over a coffee cup sitting there, then executed another shundo right into the gynoid's fist.

"No Eva! He's using a water-shadow!"

Warned of the deception, Chachamaru's daughter tried to dodge, but it was too late. Upset by her beginning to move, Moirae's real attack missed her torso, smashing instead both legs, then one of her arms. What was left crashed down and was sent sliding ungracefully across the floor and into a wall with an angry kick.

Moirae turned back to the sleep-capsule to continue, but there was a bang, and something pulled him unexpectedly to the floor. Looking down at his leg, the gynoid's remaining hand and forearm, trailing a thin wire, was clamped around his ankle.

"I WON'T PERMIT YOU TO HARM PAPA SPRINGFIELD!"

Moirae couldn't believe what he was hearing. What was it about Negi Springfield that could make a mere gynoid willing to sacrifice itself for him? As anger made him lose control and rush the damaged gynoid, an answer came from the memory of his last meeting with the demon Wilhelm Josef von Herrmann.

_His hand-claws still stained with the blood of Moirae's assassins, Herrmann had come to kill him as well after eviscerating those he'd sent to kill Kotaro and Chizuru Inugami. The fight had been brief, and as he prepared to finish off the wounded demon, Herrmann had begun taunting him._

_"Go ahead! Finish me off! I'll go hoping being a demon won't prevent me from seeing that wonderful, intriguing Chizuru Inugami again, and knowing Negi Springfield WILL finally be your downfall!"_

_He had hesitated at Herrmann's words. "The Thousand Master's son? He can't possibly defeat me! He'll never have the power or experience to do so!"_

_Herrmann began laughing a laugh full of contempt. "He does! If only he'd realize it! He has loving family! He has the loyalty of friends! They're stronger together than you, or any pack of your 'associates' will EVER be!" After coughing several times, the demon had continued. "Look at me! a 'Count-Class' demon! Rotten to the core! As they say... Taking on a mage way out of my league just because you killed a friend of Springfield's! His strength and power are way beyond ANYTHING you'll ever understand!"_

_Herrmann had continued laughing until Moirae had finished him off._

Coming back to himself, Moirae found himself pounding his fists bloody, despite the gynoid's remaining arm already being severed, trying to crush her metalic skull. Just as he felt a crack, there was a bang and a flash of sparks, and the door to the lab slid open.

"GRANDFATHER!"

(-)

Ayaka turned to face her Security Chief as Tatsumiya came back from the Osprey's cockpit.

"Lady Ayaka. We have received permission to land...but..."

Ayaka grimaced, she'd learned over the last hundred years to trust the 'Tatsumiya instincts' implicitly. "They have to have guessed why we're here..."

Tatsumiya nodded. "If I were them, wait until we flare, then hit this Osprey with everything they've got..."

Ayaka took a deep breath, then straightened up to look out at her security troopers. "Everyone... this could be bad... Yukihiro Group is making a legitimate investigation, but ordering you in without proper backup can't be anything more than a selfish, personal request..."

Without hesitation, Raymond Tatsumiya stiffened to attention. "Lady Ayaka. Beyond my family's personal reasons for loyalty to Professor Springfield, I and everyone on this transport are part of your personal guard. All of us volunteered for this duty out of loyalty to you. If you choose to give your loyalty to Professor Springfield, even for personal reasons, then on that recommendation, he is worthy of our loyalty, and we shall serve him as well."

Ayaka nodded, unable to speak.

Tatsumiya saluted Ayaka then turned to face those awaiting his orders in the back of the Osprey. "All of you know the layout of the building from the briefing I gave on the way over..." Chao and fourteen other people nodded. "Well then... STORM ATTACK PROCEEDURES! Opposed landing against corporate security personnel! Assume reinforcement with MagiTech mage personnel! Make sure you defensive barriers are at full power! Izumi! You and your medics stay with Lady Ayaka for now! Markham, you back up Lady Lingshen!"

Once more, Tatsumiya received a round of nods in acknowledgment. Even considering the risks, his blood was up, so he gave all them a grin saying he had no intention of loosing. "Stand-by!"

In the Osprey's cockpit, Pilot Officer Farandole needed no further instructions. Dropping the nose of the Osprey, he flew so close to the dry terrain surrounding their target the big transport's prop-wash left two huge, dusty rooster-tails in it's wake. Heading for the front door of the facility they planned to land at, he maintained speed, and only pulled up and banked away at the last instant. Turning to come around for his actual landing, Farandole saw several persons on the ground, scattered and tumbling in the miniature tornadoes his aircraft had left behind. One, braver or more foolish than those running for cover, stood up and fired a Sagita rocket. "Incoming Sagita Magic! Evading!"

Tatsumiya braced Ayaka against the wild maneuvering as the Osprey evaded the Sagita shot, then opened it's tail ramp and began flaring out into landing mode while tearing away at unseen targets with it's nose mounted Sagita mini-gun. There was another long burst from the mini-gun, then a green light appeared on a panel next to the open ramp. "First three teams, GO!"

Leading eight other security troopers, Tatsumiya raced down the Osprey's ramp. One was hit by several Sagita and fell. As Chao and Ayaka watched, the medic named Izumi and another of her team rushed out to drag the downed security trooper back into the shelter of the Osprey. As they pulled off the trooper's smoking equipment to examine him for serious wounds, the sounds of weapon bursts, MagiTech shields working, and occasional shouts spoke of Tatsumiya and the other security troopers working to eliminate the remaining defenders.

"Lady Lingshen forward!"

Followed by Markham and his two men, Chao ran down the ramp, turned in the direction she'd seen Tatsumiya go, and quickly joined him a short distance away behind a parked hover car.

Nodding as Chao and Markham crouched down beside him, Tatsumiya pointed at the front door of what was, considering the strength of it's defenses, increasing less likely a deep-sleep research company. "This is straight-up breaking and entering against a magically locked and shielded door. Since that suit of yours is better than anything we've got, can you break it down?"

Sensing the closeness of her grandparents, Chao was trying desperately to remain in control of herself. "If it's no more heavily protected than those at Century Corporation, then yes. I can get through the defenses."

Tatsumiya reached out to hold Chao's wrist. "First one in always has trouble. Don't get too far ahead of Markham. Let him back you up. Understand?" Chao nodded, and Tatsumiya let her go. "Good. Markham Storm team! All others covering fire! Chao...GO!"

Chao leapt forward and crashed forearms first into the entryway's defenses. As expected, especially if the place had connections to her former 'employers,' the shielding was proof against what her battlesuit 'used' to be, but not against what it was after two years of work with Satomi Hakase. With a mental shout, she commanded the suit's A.I. to boost power output, then unsealed her magic glyphs and added that power as well. Flytrap spells and raw shields were all burned away, shock magic and attacks from still active defenders were ignored or shrugged off, and with one last audible shout, she smashed the doors from their hinges with a 'force' punch and rolled inside. A guard was there to take a shot before she could recover, but Markham was on her heels and fired first.

"Chao! Go! We've got your back! Tatsumiya's right behind us!"

Chao began moving forward, following the briefing instructions toward the laboratory she knew her grandfather was in. Wishing he hadn't destroyed her battlesuit's remote-controlled Sagita funnels during their Mahora Fest battle, she paused cautiously before one hallway that echoed with the sounds of fighting.

_"Baku Retsu Sun Kei!"_

Hearing a shout, followed by an explosion, Chao smiled with relief. Her grandmother had been petrified for nearly seventy years before being healed by Konoka Konoe and marrying her grandfather. If after six years of playing her part in the deception, Ku was still lively enough to have broken free and be fighting with such gusto, then she could concentrate on finding and rescuing her grandfather.

Stephan Markham heard shouting, followed by an explosion and a burst of dust from the hallway Chao was waiting by. Turning to face him, Chao had the most inexplicable look of pride on her face.

"THAT'S MY GRANDMOTHER! SHE'S OKAY!"

Markham listened to the further paniced shouting about a 'monster,' and the sounds of people scrambling desperately to run away from something terrible and had to shake his head. Chao smiled broadly, then jumped across the hallway and headed for the next junction. He quickly called Tatsumiya to inform him of the location of one of the targets they sought to 'rescue,' then signaled his men and followed Chao.

Arriving at the next hallway, Chao saw something move out of the corner of her eye and jumped back just as a powerful barrage of lightning Sagita arrived and fried everything near the intersection. "Whoa! Strong mage!" Reaching into her belt, she took out two of the 'Forced Displacement' bullets.

Having seen the explosion of lightning Sagita, Markham saw Chao tense up. Knowing instantly the intent, he rushed up and grabbed her elbow. "Hey now! I can't permit that!"

Chao rounded on Markham. "The longer we take to reach that lab, the greater the chance my grandfather dies! I can take that mage!"

Chao's previous look of pride was gone, replaced by one of growing desperation. Still, the look in her eyes also said she was not boasting. Holding her for a moment longer, Markham locked his eyes with Chao's. "Be careful."

Chao held her gaze on Markham as he let her go, she nodded in response, and was simply gone.

Markham stared in shock as a 'Whirrppp!' sound and a blast of wind came from the hallway, followed by the sound of Chao's voice, urging them to hurry up. Rounding the corner and expecting to find some mangled body, he saw nothing more than a few drifting papers and a odd, perfectly round hole in one wall.

Chao continued down the hall without further interference until she reached the reception area outside the Laboratory room her grandfather should be in. She started trying to open the lab's door, but the palm-scan lock had the thing sealed tight.

Markham recognized the type of lock, and motioned to his second. "MagiTech lock burner! Quick!"

Stepping forward, the man removed a small box from a cargo pocket in his uniform pants and set-to, placing the device over the sealed door's lock. Chao reluctantly backed away, and the man quickly finished his work.

Markham held Chao back against the wall as his second took out a detonator and also pressed himself up against the wall with everyone else. "FIRE!"

_(Chao ran through the door before Markham could stop her. To his horror, she was impaled from behind multiple times by a stone Sagita and crashed lifelessly to the floor before the door slammed shut with him outside.)_

Markham blinked at the unexpected, frighteningly clear vision as he heard the detonator in his second's hand 'click.' There was a flash of light and sparks like a cross between a chemical fire and a magical torch, and the door slid open. Before he could stop her, Chao had slipped around his arm, and was rushing for the door.

"GRANDFATHER!"

(-)

Moirae Averruncus jumped back from the wrecked gynoid and reached out for his coffee again. _("Grandfather?")_ Someone dressed in a strange battlesuit with an oddly familiar magical aura was first through the door. The person didn't even look to the side, seemingly focused only on the sleep-capsule containing Negi Springfield. Striking a door seal override, he sent an unincanted stone Sagita at the person's unguarded back.

"CHAO! LOOK OUT!"

Just as the door started to slide shut, a Yukihiro Group security trooper jumped through and slammed into the first person just as the Sagita hit.

Markham's second watched helplessly as his leader followed Lady Lingshen through the door, shoving her aside and taking part of a Sagita attack just as the laboratory's door closed once again. Reaching up to his radio, he switched it from his now jammed channel to Markham, to the one to Tatsumiya. "Sir! Lady Lingshen and Markham got into the lab, but the door's closed again! Markham's down, and I believe there's a powerful mage inside the lab! We need backup fast!"

Chao crashed to the floor with Markham on top of her legs. His grunt as he took the Sagita hit had been enough to clear her head, and taking him along, she used Cassiopeia 2's Pseudo-Time stop to let her pull out her Ministra artifact before she even hit the floor. Snapping open the artifact fan and activating it's shielding barrier, she just managed to stop an extremely strong petrification spell. Quickly growing in strength, the attack threatened to overwhelm her artifact's defenses, so she maxed out the battlesuit's power and added that in, then unhesitatingly started feeding it with the power she could generate with her Magical Glyphs. Resisting the spell with everything she had continued until beads of pain-sweat began to form on her forehead, and the Magical Glyphs began to glow with the intense flow of power. Jumping away on her own with Cassiopeia 2 would be easy, but she would be unable in this circumstance to take the wounded Markham with her. That would leave him instantly vulnerable to petrification, so stopping the spell had to come first, counter-attack after.

Moirae poured power into his petrification spell beyond what was prudent. Whomever this person was, their power level easily matched that of Negi Springfield. _("Springfield? She... She's got to be one of his granddaughters!")_ Throwing one last pulse of his rapidly draining power reserves into the petrification magic, he tried to overwhelm the shielding spell, just to have it increase once more to match his effort. With no other choice, he cut off the attack. The magical flare died away, and a young girl wearing a battlesuit, her body glowing with Magical Glyphs, sat holding a fan out towards him in the middle a power-blasted circle.

Stephan Markham grimaced and looked up from his place in Chao's lap as her Magical Glyphs began to fade. What scared him more than the idea she might not be wholly human was the crazed look he saw on her face. "Ch...Chao... Focus. You can beat him, but not if you're angry..."

Chao didn't take her eyes off the magically strong boy standing near what had to be the wrecked body of Chachamaru's daughter Eva, but the tension in her body eased at Markham's words. "Don't die Markham." After feeling a nod in her lap, she carefully set the wounded man on the floor, placed the fan back in her belt, and stood. "I don't know who you are... but you're mine..."

Moirae started to release a normal, unincanted attack spell, but yelled and reeled in shock as the girl vanished, only to appear behind him for a punch to the kidney...

"THAT'S FOR WHATEVER YOU'RE DOING TO GRANDFATHER!"

...Before Moirae could hit the floor, the girl was there to send a battlesuit-enhanced fist into his gut...

"THAT'S FOR HURTING MY GRANDDAUGHTER!"

...And once more, the girl hit with a roundhouse kick to the neck, as the amazingly lucid thought; _("Granddaughter? What is this person talking about?")_ ran through his head, then finally another battlesuit-enhanced punch that sent Moirae flying over his desk and against the wall.

"THAT'S FOR HURTING MARKHAM!"

Chao felt herself flush at what she'd just said as her target hit the wall and fell to the floor.

Markham gave a pained chuckle as Chao started stalking her way towards the gray-haired boy-mage she'd been pounding on.

_(Chao leaned over behind the desk, and was hit by stone Sagita that took her in the head and chest...)_

Despite the agony he felt from the rock in his shoulder, Markham listened to the strange vision once more. Pulling his good arm around, he fired a burst from his weapon at a shadow in the corner of the dimly-lit laboratory.

Chao started to reach down for the seemingly unconscious boy when a burst of fire from Markham's weapon hit the wall nearby. Jumping back, she barely avoided another stone Sagita attack as the Water-shadow she'd been reaching for was hit instead and dissolved. Hidden in the corner, the boy she'd been fighting did a shundo towards the sleep-capsule, slapped a control, then did another shundo and escaped through a wall panel that slammed shut before she could react.

Moirae slapped another control, magically sealing the panel he'd come through just as he heard something slam against it. "What are you going to do? 'Granddaughter' of Negi Springfield? Come after me? Or save Negi? You've got less than sixty seconds before that sleep-capsule gives him a lethal injection!" The pounding ceased, and Moirae ran off down the hidden passageway. Recalling the warning light flashing on the sleep-capsule's control panel, he shook his head. (_It's already too late girl! The only reason I left is Negi's already dead!")_

Running along the emergency exit passageway, Moirae finally exited near a camouflaged pit outside his company's fence-line. As he prepared to enter the vehicle hidden there, a tall shadow rose over the ramp-edge end of the pit. A smaller shadow separated itself from the first, and Moirae recognized the shape of a blade he'd unexpectedly seen someone take possession of almost one-hundred years ago.

"Fate Averruncus... Why am I not surprised?" The person took a step forward, and Fate could now easily recognize who it was. "You want to know something, you 'White-haired' brat? If my worthless, genetic-donor of a father hadn't stopped me all those years ago... We wouldn't be having this conversation right now..."

Moving like a blur, the shadow's owner rushed down to impale and pin him to the pit's wall with the blue and gold trimmed 'Caliburn of Enteofushia.'

Fate stared dumbly for a moment as his blood began to spill from the wound, then finally looked up at the blade's owner. "Princess Enteofu...shia..."

Bells chimed softly as his tormentor leaned in close. Even in her advanced age, time had been kind to Asuna Kagurazaka, and now she had come to be his appropriately named angel of death; 'The Imperial Princess of the Twilight.' He tried to surge his power for one last act of defiance, but everything drained away, almost faster than he could try to build it up.

"Aww... Did you wanna' do a 'Final-Strike?' Too bad... I guess you forgot I'm a magic canceler? Didn't you..."

Moirae twitched, trying not to cry out as Asuna pushed the blade further into his body.

"You want to know something else, you "White-haired brat?' I'm not going to kill you for all my fiends you've hurt, not specifically, but because you hurt Negi... He tried, he really did. Even after everything you'd done, he tried to reconcile with you, and you stabbed him in the back, AGAIN, for his efforts. That betrayal hurt him a lot, more than you could ever know."

Fate felt his lips starting to tremble from blood-loss and shock as Asuna leaned in further to whisper in his ear.

"Maybe they'll explain it to you in hell..."

Asuna withdrew Caliburn, Fate felt himself step out over an empty space, and he was once more on the edge of the Enteofushia Castle Gate-Jump platform, with a crazed Asuna Kagurazaka standing before him...

(-)

Caught off guard, Chao rushed the closing door and slammed into it just as it sealed.

"What are you going to do? 'Granddaughter' of Negi Springfield? Come after me? Or save Negi? You've got less than sixty seconds before that sleep-capsule gives him a lethal injection!"

Turning away, Chao ran back to the sleep-capsules control panel and started trying to make sense of how everything functioned.

Markham pulled himself up and over to Chao. Blood loss was making him light-headed, but he managed to prop himself up next to her.

Chao was on the verge of tears. "Please help me. I'm not familiar with what this system does..."

Markham ran his eyes over the touch-screen controls. Many were obvious, but without time to carefully experiment, randomly pressing controls might make things worse. "Power monitoring, life support equipment controls, regular intravenous controls, this is the timer for that button he pushed, but I can't seen how to stop it!"

Chao looked into the sleep-capsule at her still out of reach grandfather. "What if I smash the capsule open..."

Markham shook his head, then gritted his teeth from a spasm of pain. "Chao... How did you get rid of that mage?"

Chao's eyes suddenly grew wide with hope. Reaching into her belt, she pulled out the last two 'Forced-Displacement' bullets.

Without any idea how they worked, Markham knew he didn't have time to care. "Can those work on this console?"

Chao nodded. "I'll get caught in the effect, but, yes!"

Markham turned and staggered away. "Do it."

Looking down at the timer, Chao saw it pass twenty seconds. _(...but not if you're angry...")_ Markham's earlier words came back to her. She took a calming breath, and the answer came to her. _("Cassiopeia 2. I can get back with Cassiopeia 2.")_

Markham turned and watched as Chao took a deep breath, whispered something, then drew her fist back and punched the console. Instantly, a watch face similar to the one on her back flared into existence. She and the console were englobed in a black, swirling sphere. Chao turned to look at him through the rapidly darkening globe, then she, the console, and the now completely opaque sphere shrank to a dot and vanished. The illumination in the sleep-capsule went out, and it slowly began to drain through it's now severed supply connections.

Markham starred at the spreading puddle of fluid for a moment before his fogged mind finally realized what that meant. _("Tubes cut... Life support... The oxygen's cut off!")_ He took a step back towards the pod and collapsed in a partial faint, just as a soft 'Pop-Bang!' announced Chao's return. knowing he was in serious trouble from blood loss, he still stretched out his good arm to point at the sleep-capsule. "Chao... the oxygen... get him out..."

Looking at Markham, face down on a floor smeared with his own blood, Chao felt something painful pulling at her heart. She wasn't sure if she could make the choice, but Markham, lying there, pointing at the sleep-capsule, had made it for her. Turning back to her grandfather, she smashed the sleep-capsule's lock with a battlesuit enhanced punch, and raised the lid. Most of the remaining fluid poured out onto the floor, and she was quickly able to remove the life support equipment and pull her grandfather from the capsule.

He wasn't breathing.

Chao leaned down to place her ear against her grandfather's chest. Nothing. A crackle of paper made her look down to see that her fan had returned to it's card-form, and was now missing most of it's information, meaning it's initiator was dead. Looking back up at the frail man she'd always thought so strong, she brushed aside a few strands of his thin, gray hair as her tears started to flow. "Grandfather? Please... It's Chao... I'm back Grandfather... Please speak to me... say something!"

(-)

"FIRE!"

Every MagiTech lock cutter Tatsumiya's team had left was attached around the perimeter of the laboratory's door seal. The release of energy as all six went off simultaneously didn't just break the magical seals, they burned the door from it's frame. What was left fell out into the hallway with a crash. Tatsumiya leading the way, the Yukihiro Group Security Troopers poured into the room expecting a fight, but found only the unconscious Markham, and a sobbing Chao, cradling their main rescue target. The team quickly swept the room, then Tatsumiya returned to the destroyed door. "Izumi! Two down! get in here!"

Followed by her assistants, Izumi came through the destroyed door and knelt to take a quick look at the man Chao held. Without even shaking her head, she moved over to help the man whose faint groans indicated he still had a chance.

Chao watched Ako's descendant move away, then looked up as Ayaka and Ku walked into the lab. "Grandmother... Grandfather's not breathing... please help him..."

Ku knelt next to her husband and reached out to examine Negi as Ayaka turned away, fighting back her own sorrow. She soon shook her head, and started to shed her own tears.

Chao watched her grandmother stand up. Her tears started flowing like rain, and she began to howl with a level of grief not felt since she was eight years old. "PLEASE GRANDFATHER! I PROMISED I'D COME FIND YOU! PLEASE DON'T MAKE OUT TO BE A LIAR! YOU SAID WE HAD A CHANCE, AND I MADE IT! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME!"

Accompanied by a soft chime, a shadow fell over Chao.

"Stupid Negi... Going off by yourself again..."

Everyone in the room started, surprised by the tall woman who had silently come through a panel in the wall to stand amongst them. A few started to raise their weapons, but at a signal from Tatsumiya, they relaxed again.

Chao looked up at the woman who was one of her great-grandmothers. "Please... Asuna..."

Asuna, glancing at her own dead Pactio card, could only shake her head as Chao's tears continued to fall on Negi's face.

Stephan Markham woke briefly after someone came over and removed the stone spear from his shoulder. Trauma-foam sealant was used to temporarily close the wound, and he was quickly loaded on a medical support stretcher. Face down and looking across the floor before being moved, he was the only one to see Professor Springfield's fingers twitch. Despite his pain, he started to shake slightly with mirth. _(Oh my... They're going to be so mad at him! At least I can ask 'him' for permission to court Chao, her grandmother has a 'dangerous' aura about her!")_ He tried to laugh louder, but Izumi took it as him being in pain, and administered another mild sedative to keep him from moving.

Chao started rocking back and forth, cradling her grandfather's body and pouring out her grief as Markham was carried out of the laboratory. _"("If he dies to... This will all have been for NOTHING!")_ "Grandfather..." Unexpectedly, she felt a thin hand caressing her face.

"As Samuel Clemens once said; 'Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated...'"

Chao looked down at her grandfather as the obviously not dead man continued to cradle her face. "Grandfather! How...?"

Negi Springfield gasped as his granddaughter suddenly squeezed him fiercely. "Chao... please... air..."

Raymond Tatsumiya looked over towards Negi Springfield from where he was directing the recovery of Eva Springfield. What he saw there set every alarm he'd inherited from his ancestors off. "Everyone out! NOW!" Without hesitation, Tatsumiya bodily lifted the damaged Eva into his arms and ran from the lab. Markham's second listened to the order and followed Tatsumiya without question. In ones and twos, the Yukihiro Group security troopers quickly realized the growing danger and did a good imitation of the Keystone Cops as they scrambled to follow their leader's order.

Chao felt a sudden sense of danger and looked up as her grandfather continued on, oblivious to the growing threat. "I knew that 'Petit Mal' spell would come in handy some day! By the way, what happened to Fate?"

"My reputation...My heart...Adeat..." A Rose vine whip appeared in Ayaka Yukihiro's hand.

"I came all the way from Megalo-Mesembria for this? Adeat..." A huge, wedge-shaped blade appeared in Asuna Kagurazaka's hand.

"You no say you know that spell...Come!" Chao's sword flew from it's sheath to land in Ku's hand.

Suddenly very afraid, Chao looked down at her Grandfather. "Grandfather...I love you more than I can say, and I really am happy you're alive, but you deserve what's about to happen for what you just put me through..." Without ceremony, Chao dropped her grandfather on the floor and fled for her life.

Negi Springfield sat up, rubbing the back of his head, then suddenly saw the three ominously glowing auras surrounding the women who still stood before him. "Uh...heh heh! Really everyone, I had no idea this would upset you so much!"

Three voices cried out in perfect unison.

"STUPID NEGI! DIE!"

Outside, several avians resting along the edge of the building's roof suddenly felt an unnatural shaking of the ground. Upset by this strange event, they took off and flew away, squawking in distress.

tsuzuku

(-)

**Author's Notes:**

**'Moirae.' Greek word for the 'Moiraes.' (Or: 'The Fates.') I needed a 'cover' name for Fate Averruncus, so as to not give away who he was immediately. Considering the language he used in the manga for his spells, 'Moirae' seemed appropriate.**

**Just to avoid confusion:**

**Eva Springfield is Chachamaru's 'daughter,' via the 'assistance' of Negi Springfield...**

**Chachamaru is Chao Lingshen and Satomi Hakase's 'daughter.'**

**Thus, Eva is Chao Lingshen's 'granddaughter.'**

**I can only hope I have not upset anyone with my portrayal of this small-unit action. My experience with such things is minimal, and I can only write about such based on the limited extent of my knowledge.**

**"Baku Retsu Sun Kei!"**

**Ku Fei's rock-smashing technique from c207.**

**Corporate Oversight.**

**In a world ruled by corporations, there still needs to be some 'law.' Yukihiro Group, guided by Ayaka Yukihiro, worked itself through means fair and foul into the position of 'Corporate Rules Enforcer' for the specific purpose of being able to have the necessary authority to deal with various things related to Chao Lingshen, as described to Ayaka by Negi Springfield.**

**Beyond that hidden purpose, Yukihiro Group performs the same functions within the corporate world that normal police perform today. It is important to note, however, that this 'does not' include non-corporate crimes. Say, the murder/sacrifice of your granddaughter.**

**Negi Springfield is concerned about the survival of Chao Lingshen. He and others are willing to accept the risks involved in a false conviction, as long as their primary goal, Chao's survival, is assured.**

**Century Corporation grew from a certain organization in a certain manga involving a certain police girl.**

**Sagita weaponry.**

**Through the combination of magic and technology, small arms weaponry capable of firing 'Sagita-shots' instead of normal bullets is developed. While completely spell-based 'caseless' Sagita weapons may exist, they would be more expensive than simple catalyst-based 'cased' weapons.**

**Various heavier arms also exist, but after a certain point, it just becomes easier to use a real mage, or a real cannon, if you need a 'heavy' weapon.**

**MagiTech Shields.**

**Simply a magic and technology-based shield designed to resist magical attacks, and to a limited extent, physical attacks. Defense against physical attacks is still more efficiently provided by physical armor.**

**Yukihiro Group Security Troopers.**

**Think of armored, non-landmate-using ESWAT troopers from Appleseed, or regular SWAT police from any good-sized city in the US of today. Each trooper would have a set of personal armor, communications equipment including a helmet mounted display, a MagiTech shield system, personal weapon, and whatever extra equipment was required by their specialty or the mission at hand.**

**Osprey Tilt-rotor.**

**Because the Mahora Military Club had one, and they just plain look cool. My other choice would have been some kind of advanced UH-60 Blackhawk or MH-53 Pave Low.**

**Why such low-tech in a world of magic? Because it's cheaper and ultimately more reliable in most situations.**

**Not everyone can be Nagi Springfield after all.**

**Kafka'sdragon. It's not over yet, but I hope I've done right by you.**


	5. Part 05: A Growing Love

Magister Negi Magi is owned by Ken Akamatsu and Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo in Japan, and by Funimation and Ballantine - DelRey in the United States, NOT by me.

AU ALERT! Depending on how you want to look at it, this story occurs before chapter one of the 'Magister Negi Magi' manga, or one-Hundred YEARS after it ends.

Many thanks again to Kafka'sdragon for the inspiration of his story; 'Markham Chronicles Negima,' and the use of the Markham family name.

Also thanks to Ambrant Arandel, for his Ku - Negi paring in 'Child of Mine,' which helped inspire 'Coming Home.'

(-)

"I wouldn't hesitate to do such for her again. She's worth it."  
-Stephan Markham. As told to Michiko Aisaka, Author of: "Resolution: Aftermath of 'The Demon Wars.'"

(-)

Chao Lingshen. 'Coming Home.'

Part 05: A Growing Love.

(-)

Chao Lingshen watched as her grandparents, Ako's descendant, Ayaka Yukihiro, the various wounded and their guards, flew away in Pilot Officer Farandole's Osprey. She, Asuna Kagurazaka, Security Chief Tatsumiya and the remaining Yukihiro Group Security Troopers stayed behind. While waiting for the arrival of additional personnel from Yukihiro Group, they collected the survivors from Moirae Company, dealt with those who had not, and waited for the return of the mage Chao had used the 'Forced Displacement' bullets on.

Wisely, when the man reappeared after three hours and was confronted by the half-inch bore of Tatsumiya's Desert-Eagle pistol, six-inches from his face, backed up by Chao, Asuna, and the weapons of six more Yukihiro Group Security Troopers, he surrendered peacefully.

(-)

Asuna Kagurazaka watched Chao Lingshen out of the corner of her eye as she piloted her H10 aircar between the Moirae Company compound and Negi Springfield's home. Fidgeting nervously, the Chinese girl seemed like she wanted to say something, but wasn't sure how to bring it up. After giving it a few moments of thought, Asuna realized what was probably bothering her friend. "Chao..."

Chao jumped and straightened up. "Ye...Yes! Lady Kagurazaka!"

Asuna looked at Chao's comically stiff posture and had to fight to hold back her laughter. "Relax Chao! Just call me Asuna! I may be Enteofushia's representative on the Mage Council, but that doesn't mean we're not still friends! Okay?"

Chao looked up and over at Asuna. Tall, still strikingly beautiful despite her age, and as cheerful as she remembered, it was hard not to relax in response to her friend's infectious smile.

Asuna gave Chao a nod of approval, then returned her attention to navigating the aircar. "Anyway, about that time you clobbered Setsuna and me; Don't worry about it. Konoka fixed us right up! Didn't even leave a bruise!"

Chao gave another start, blushing furiously, then slowly relaxed as Asuna made minor conversation with an Air-traffic controller. _("Of course. She is my friend. Why wouldn't she forgive me?")_ Asuna finished her conversation, noticed her now relaxed look, and nodded in approval.

Later, after calming Asuna down when the twin boys at her grandfather's house imprudently asked; 'Big Sister, who's this old Lady?' Chao sat down in the living room while the children swarmed around her, asking more innocent questions than she'd had directed at her since those of the Class A students upon her arrival at Mahora Academy. Eva's daughter Dawn seemed just as taciturn as her mother, but listened to Chao with imperfectly concealed interest. Setsuna and Konoka's descendants Eishun and Tsuruko sat attentively, acting even at the age of eight like a fated pair while they awaited their turns to ask questions. Nodoka's great-granddaughter Momo seemed just as timid as the girl Chao knew from school, but if the way she stayed glued to Eishun's other arm meant anything, Tsuruko better not count on being a shoe-in as Eishun's significant other. Haruna's descendant Mayii asked an occasional question, but spent most of her time drawing simple sketches of everyone in the living room that showed potential equal to that of her ancestor, if she kept practicing. Chizuru and Kotaro's descendant Katrina helped Kaede's namesake ride herd on the twins Aki and Akito, keeping them in line, and making them wait their turn to ask another question.

Eventually the afternoon moved on into evening. Asuna, with Katrina fussing in her wake, went into the kitchen to begin preparations for dinner. Eishun and his two satellites drifted off to read a book, while all the remaining children except one fell asleep or began playing with the plushy dragon again.

Despite the enjoyment she received from being the center of the children's attention, Chao was grateful for the break. Thinking of ways she might help Eishun, who had had his wings clipped by Century Corporation's scientists, she went up to her room to change out of the soot-stained battlesuit and clean up. Opening her bedroom's door on the way to washroom, she found Sasuke Nagase waiting outside. "You didn't have any questions before Sasuke. Do you have some now?"

Squint-eyed like Kaede, Sasuke looked right at Chao and opened both of his eyes fully. "Big Sister Chao... What great-grandmother Kaede did was dangerous, wasn't it? Is that why she disappeared?"

Chao looked at Sasuke and saw a young boy, even at the age of eight, who seemed to realize he was flirting with a dangerous world. "I don't know. Lady Ayaka hasn't told me about that, and I haven't had a chance to ask my grandfather yet."

Sasuke started shaking as he continued looking up at Chao. "Were you scared when they took you away from your grandparents?"

Chao felt a twinge in her chest at the sudden recollection of that six-year old memory. Sasuke saw her reaction, and began crying.

"I was so scared when they came and took me away in the middle of the night! My parents were lying on the floor, and I didn't do anything!" Looking down, Sasuke began rubbing at his falling tears with a sleeve. "None of the people who held us were willing to do much for me or any of the other children until Miss Tsuku showed up. When they were crying at night, I couldn't take it, so I begged them to let me go try to help. All I knew to do was just hold them until they could go to sleep. I wanted to cry myself, I wanted to go home, but the other children were so scared, and I was the only one who would do anything for them!"

Chao stepped forward and took Sasuke into her arms.

Sasuke pressed himself against Chao, wrapping his arms around her back and digging his fingers into the bathrobe she wore. "Great-grandmother Kaede was so brave! She even saved someone's life when she was only eight years old! My Grandfather told me so! All I could do was cry at night whenever I was alone! How can I ever be like her if I was so scared?"

Chao sighed as she continued to hold Sasuke. "Don't think Kaede was never scared. She just did what she had to do, and waited to be scared later." Leaning down, she tucked the tall boy's head in under her chin. "I was scared as well. There's nothing wrong with that. What matters is how well you deal with it."

Sasuke leaned back and looked up at Chao, by the confused look in his eyes, she could see he didn't understand her.

Smiling, Chao reached up to hold Sasuke's chin. "Kaede dealt with her fear by meditating. I dealt with it by studying. You, Sasuke, you dealt with your fear by trying to help the other children." Seeing the beginnings of understanding in Sasuke's eyes, Chao took him in her arms again. "Look at yourself. After it's safe, NOW you start letting your fear show by crying so openly."

Sasuke nodded against Chao's chest, and continued silently sobbing until his shaking finally stopped. Eventually, he stepped back to look up At Chao with both eyes red and swollen, but still open.

Chao smiled, straightening Sasuke's clothes as she did so. "Feel better now?" After he nodded, Chao patted him on the back. "You were very brave as well, Sasuke. You did what you felt needed to be done to help the other children."

Sasuke gave a weak smile, thinking about how Miss Tsuku had quietly praised both he and eventually Dawn for protecting the other children as much as they could, as well as for helping keep them out of trouble by making sure they knew and obeyed Century Corporation's 'rules.'

Chao saw Sasuke's smile grow, and reached up to ruffle his hair. "People who can do what you did will always be needed in this world. You did a fine job, and I'm sure Kaede would be proud of you!"

Sasuke stepped in to give Chao one more fierce hug. After releasing her, he again wore the relaxed, trade-mark squint-eye'd expression of his ancestor.

Downstairs, the shouting of a small girl heralded a 'womphhh!' and a cloud of smoke that rolled out of the kitchen. While the Yukihiro Group personnel looked on nervously, Chao had to shake her head. ("I guess like Class Rep chewing on her thumb, there are some other things that haven't changed!") "Sasuke..." When the boy looked up at her, Chao indicated the kitchen with a wave of her hand. "Why don't you go make sure they don't burn the place down, and after I clean myself up, I'll see if I can't show everyone one what some REAL cooking is like!"

Looking a little worried himself, Sasuke nodded, then left to run down the stairs as Chao turned to go clean herself up.

(-)

Chao Lingshen checked in at the Security Desk of the restricted access recovery ward at Chizuru Inugami Memorial Hospital. Built by the Yukihiro Group after Chizuru and Kotaro Inugami's deaths, the hospital was were her grandfather had been brought directly from the Moirae Company to recover from his, 'ordeal.' Her intent had been to visit him as soon as possible, but Asuna had to leave, and several days passed before Chachamaru and a rebuilt Eva finally arrived to temporarily take her place as the orphan children's primary guardian.

Walking down the corridor, Chao passed the nurse's station and was starting to go towards her grandfather's room when she saw a Onmyoji clad woman with gray-streaked, chocolate colored hair coming out of a different room. Rushing over, she held out her arms to greet and embrace another of her old classmates. "Konoka!"

Konoka Konoe looked up as Chao called her name. With an expression showing first surprise, then delight, she seized the still young girl in a fierce hug that belied her own advanced age. "Chao! I knew you were back! Things have been so busy though I've been unable to come see you before now!" Stepping away slightly, she held Chao by her shoulders. "It's not like I should say you look good after so long, since for you it's only been a few weeks! I'm so jealous!"

Chao gave Konoka another hug, (Ignoring the quickly muffled gasp from the nurse's station, where the person there seemed surprised by someone being so familiar with 'Lady Konoe.') then stepped back. "What can I say! Blame Grandfather if you must. He's the one who started all this to begin with!" Pausing once more, Chao glanced over Konoka's formal-working Onmyoji. "So, I guess you're still the leader of Kansai-Kanto?"

Konoka's expression saddened. "I am, but only because my children showed so little affinity for magic. My great-granddaughter was the first after me to show potential anywhere close to mine. She's probably going to have to take over the association early, like I had to." Chao reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, so Konoka forced a smile. "Sometimes I feel like I stole everything from my descendants. Tsuruko's parents being so weak in magic is why Century Corporation's kidnappers were able to get close enough to grab her."

Chao patted Konoka's shoulder once more, then turned away, slightly upset she'd brought out bad memories for her classmate. "So! I came to see Grandfather. His room's down there..." Chao pointed past the nurses station, then turned to indicate the room Konoka had come out of. "...who's in there?"

Konoka sniffed away a tear and looked back at the room she'd just come from. Her sly look when she faced Chao once more made her classmate take a step back. "Oh? That's just a young man who helped a young woman resolve a difficult situation..." Now, Konoka's expression became melancholy, and she clasped her hands together. "It's just so sad! He has no family who can come visit him! And he's been all alone in this cold, antiseptic hospital for so many days!"

Chao looked around as Konoka continued with her hyperbolic dialogue. The hospital's walls were painted with soft, inviting colors, and the atmosphere of the place was anything but 'cold and antiseptic.' Still, she felt herself blush tremendously from embarrassment. In her happiness over Negi and Ku's survival, and the responsibility of taking care of the orphan children, she'd permitted herself to forget the Yukihiro Group Security Trooper who'd helped her against Fate Averruncus. "Okay okay! I..." Chao suddenly realized she only knew the young man's last name. "Ah.. What is his name?"

Konoka smiled like a fisherman who'd just felt a fish take the bait. "Stephan Markham. Believe it or not, he's actually the great-grandson of Madoka Kugimiya and our High School professor Philip Markham! Everyone saw that coming from a mile off except Madoka and Professor Markham!

Chao gave a small chuckle. "Madoka probably thought he wouldn't want her or her 'husky' voice until he proposed, did she?"

Konoka responded with a smile that was just as infectious to Chao as ever. "Well, it wasn't quite that bad, but Misa and Sakurako had to tackle and hold her down long enough to give Professor Markham an answer!" Glancing at a holo watch projecting from a bracelet she wore, Konoka gave a sigh. "I have to go take care of Negi." After handing Chao a QR card, she gave her old classmate another quick hug. "If I don't see you again today, I'm sure we'll meet again soon!"

Chao waved as Konoka went off down the hall and into her grandfather's room. Feeling an uncharacteristic nervousness, she turned to go see Stephan Markham.

Markham's room was dimly lit, just the bare amount needed for his attendant to do their duties while he rested and healed. Even though she had forgotten about him temporarily, Tatsumiya and Izumi talking before the medic left in the Osprey had let her know what had happened. Markham's MagiTech shield had stopped most of the attack, burning out in the process, but the single stone Sagita that penetrated still caused serious damage to his shoulder, so much so that Izumi had been surprised he was still alive after all his blood loss.

Passing around a screening curtain, Chao gasped when she saw Markham. Without all of his equipment, he looked young enough to be a Mahora Academy High School student. Someone who should be enjoying summer at the beach, instead of throwing himself in front of a Sagita for a girl he hardly knew. Suddenly, she realized how selfish she'd been over the last six years. Working towards a desirable goal, but still thinking mostly of herself. Now, because she'd been selfish again, running blindly into that laboratory, Stephan Markham was hurt and in the hospital. Instead of 'taking,' from her, like Century Corporation had done for six years, he had 'given,' to her. Reassurance, physical support towards a goal, and most confusing to her emotionally, he had shown concern 'for' her, instead of simply 'about' her. In return for a selfish act, from the look of things, he had very nearly given her his life. Letting out a barely audible gasp, the 'Mad Genius who sold her soul for science' began to feel choked up. Unable to look at the wounded young man lying in the bed any more, she started to flee.

"Chao..."

Rubbing at her eyes, Chao turned back towards Markham. "Stephan?"

With his eyes just barely open, Markham gave a tiny smile and flexed the tips of the fingers on his visible hand. "Please... If I tell you about the smitten Stephan Markham..." Pausing, Markham took a slow, deep breath to gather his strength. " ...would you tell me about the brave Chao Lingshen?"

Chao felt herself flush slightly as she walked over and sat in the chair placed next to Markham's bed. Without even thinking about doing so, she reached out to grasp his hand in her own. "Well, if you believe a story about a frightened eight-year old girl would be interesting, then okay..."

(-)

Negi Springfield looked up from a Yukihiro Group Corporate Oversight Division report and over his tiny glasses as Konoka Konoe walked into his room. "Konoka! How is our young Stephan Markham doing?"

Sitting down across from Ku, who was peeling an apple for Negi, Konoka crossed her arms and gave the former Class 3A professor an exasperated look. "Better than you'll be doing if you pull a stunt like that again!" On the other side of the bed, Ku nodded in agreement. "Setsuna told me she'll ignore her arthritic wings and fly over to help everyone 'punish you appropriately' if she ever hears of such foolishness again!"

Negi's eyes went wide as the peeling knife suddenly 'thunked' into the hospital bed's table next to his hand.

Ku smiled and innocently reached out to retrieve the knife. "Oops. Knife slipped."

Negi chuckled nervously as Ku finished peeling the apple, then began to slice it. "Anyway, Markham being wounded was terribly unfortunate, I'm glad he's going to be all right. Still, do you think Chao realizes what we're doing? Trying to get her and Stephan Markham together?"

Konoka sighed. "Since your granddaughter isn't as clueless as you are, how could she not? I don't think she'll mind though."

Negi removed his tiny glasses and sat back. Ku handed him an apple slice, which he took and began to contemplate. "Good. Stephan seems to have inherited his great-grandfather's abilities. He'll be able to use them to help protect Chao from any crazies who might appear after we're gone."

Ku handed Negi another slice of the apple as he began to chew the first. "Chao maybe have more friend and ally than you think, Negi."

Konoka nodded in agreement as Ku stood slightly and leaned across the bed to offer her an apple slice. 'All those children Yukihiro Group rescued when they smashed Century Corporation know Chao's responsible. A lot of them are calling her 'Big Sister Chao.' The one's who still have relatives heard the story about what she did from them, and the orphans heard it from Ayaka."

Ku handed Negi another apple slice. "This generation scary. Much like old Class A in looks, potential. Maybe genetics recycle to help Chao adjust to return home."

Konoka swallowed the last of her apple. "There is a mix of boys and girls, and species, but since Mahora Academy is completely coed, and multi-species now, if all of the children attend there, and Chao becomes a professor, then the only real difference will be she's four years older, instead of your four years younger."

Negi took one last slice of apple as Ku started chewing on a piece of her own. "That reminds me, how are the arrangements for 'it' going?"

"Excellent. All the arrangements have been made."

Negi, Konoka and Ku all looked up as Ayaka Yukihiro walked into his room.

Ayaka walked over to stand at the foot of Negi's bed. "Travel arrangement for everyone who's left have been finalized except for Satomi Hakase. My people still can't confirm if she's alive or dead." Disappointment showed on her audience's face as Ayaka shrugged. "Stephan Markham should recover enough by then to escort her there under the pretense of a vacation visit."

Negi sighed. "Good. It may be the last significant thing those of us who are left will have the time to do for her..."

Along with their former teacher, the three women in the room nodded and grew silent.

(-)

Chao Lingshen pulled nervously at her Mahora Academy school uniform as she stood in the train heading for Mahora Academy Station. Even though she'd been uncomplaining about the match-making conspiracy to get her together with Stephan Markham, she found his sudden suggestion they go to Mahora for a visit very strange. Even more so was his insistence she wear her old school uniform, courtesy of Ayaka, when they went to the academy grounds themselves.

Brushing at non-existent lint, Chao looked up at Stephan, who was grinning like a cat who'd been in the cream. Dressed in a business casual style, he looked so much like a younger version of Takamichi Takahata, she wondered if some of her old teacher's blood wasn't in the 'mix' somewhere. "What? Is there something on my face?"

Stephan Markham tried and failed to eliminate his smile. Keeping a secret from the girl he loved was making him crazy. Going on a 'date' with a junior high-school girl, with a difference in age of just less than seven years, was also doing things to his physiology not conducive to remaining calm. He knew he'd never 'jump' Chao, she might clobber him if he tried, but he did anticipate a number of cold showers over the next few years.

Chao watched as Stephan began looking everywhere but at her. Grinning mischievously, she reached up to pinch his still healing shoulder. "Are you sure you're not just being some perverted 'old man' who wants to be seen with a cute girl in a school uniform?"

Stephan winced and tried to twist out of Chao's grip. "Ow! Ow... Please Chao! I promise it's not anything dirty! I just promised your...!"

Chao squeezed harder, but only a little. "Oh ho! Another conspiracy is it? Perhaps I should just get off at the next stop and go home!"

Stephan could tell Chao was kidding. The proof of that came when she let him go and turned away, a single eyebrow raised, feigning a huff. Ignoring the pain in his shoulder, he stepped up to embrace her waist from behind, then leaned down to nuzzle her hair affectionately. "Trust me Chao. I know you'll like what's going to happen."

Chao reached up to cover Stephan's hands with her own as he whispered into her ear that she had a nice scent. "Okay..."

Nearby, a few female Mahora Junior High School students riding the train whispered to each other about Chao's old uniform, and about 'forbidden Teacher-Student' relationships, then began giggling in amusement to each other.

Chao just smiled, leaning back against Stephan and doing nothing to dissuade the young girls of their fantasies.

(-)

Stephan lead Chao to the Mahora Academy presentation auditorium. After giving him an odd look, she went up and opened the door. Inside, seated on the right, her surviving classmates and their immediate families turned to see her standing there. On the left, sat the children she'd helped Yukihiro Group rescue, along with their surviving relatives. Surprised, she tried to back up, but Stephan was there to gently prod her forward, nodding his head as he did so. Taking a deep breath, Chao straightened her back, and marched forward to stand in front of the single chair placed between the two groups of people. Understanding finally what was going on, she paused for a moment, then held her uniform skirt and sat. Stephan followed her and seated himself in the front row on the left.

Up on the stage, Yue Ayase, dressed in the full regalia of the Mahora Academy dean, stood and approached the lectern with a smile and more energy than her staff had seen her possess of late. After placing a pair of cord bound tubes on the lectern, she braced herself and looked out over the gathered people. "Today, after much too long, we have gathered here at Mahora Academy to honor a friend. Someone we shared good times with, and some bad, but always she has remained our friend. We can only hope she may forgive us for not understanding at the time the things she had to go through."

Chao sat ramrod straight, a tear in her eye, hands placed firmly palms down on her knees.

Yue looked down at Chao and nodded, then out once more at the audience as a whole. "Mahora Academy, 2104 Special Class A, graduating students; 'One.' Chao Lingshen!"

Chao stood up. "Yes!"

Yue picked up one of the cord bound tubes. "Please approach to receive your diploma."

Chao marched up towards the stage. On her right, the remaining girls from her class, Konoka, Setsuna, Yuuna, Asuna, Chachamaru and her daughter Eva, Chisame's 'Ghost' in a cyber-body, and Ayaka, all watched her with unreserved friendship and pride. On her left, Stephan Markham, front row right, with Sayo and Kazumi's descendant Michiko, Sasuke, Dawn, Tsuruko and the other descendants of Class A spread out behind and to his left, watched her with a range of emotions from admiration to respect. Climbing up on the stage, she passed her grandparents, dressed as faculty and graduate emeritus, and approached Yue Ayase. Once there, she gave a small bow.

Yue held out the cord-bound tube to Chao. "Class A, student number one, old nineteen, Chao Lingshen. In recognition of your have completed equivalency requirements for graduation, I now present you with your Junior High School Diploma."

Chao bowed once more and accepted the bound document.

Before Chao could move away, Yue picked up and held out the second bound document. "In addition, in recognition of your previous levels of academic achievement, along with performance of duties whose outcome resulted in the establishment of stable relations between the United Worlds, you are hereby advanced three grades. I now also present you with your High School diploma. Congratulations!"

Chao nodded and accepted the second document, then everyone seated before the podium rose and began to applaud.

Yue Ayase smiled at Chao, then leaned in to speak to her over the applause. "There are a few university-level courses to complete if you choose to, but Mahora Academy is prepared to offer you a teaching and research position. If not, Ayaka tells me Yukihiro Group, or ChiuCom are also prepared to offer you positions." Indicating the lectern, Yue stepped back.

Chao nodded and stepped forward. Looking out at her friends, the others present, and the children who would likely become her students, her eyes finally settled on Stephan Markham. Seeing him nod, she smiled and looked back out over the audience. "Thank you everyone. Finally, after such a long time, I return to Mahora Academy, and I feel like I've finally come home."

From behind Chao came the opening lines of the Mahora Academy Anthem. She instantly recognized her grandmother's voice, as well as that of her grandfather, who quickly joined his voice to that of his wife.

_The sky of Mahora spreads deep and blue,  
filling our heart full with desires.  
Teaching the doctrine like the past without fail,  
the learning campus, oh Mahora._

Before the first verse was finished, the rest of her old classmates joined in singing the anthem.

_The hills of Mahora support the sprouting of the new leaves,  
cultivating friends to be our guiding light.  
Moisten and spread the giant tree of thoughts,  
the learning campus, oh Mahora._

By the end of the second verse, everyone else who knew the song was also singing. Tears in her eyes, Chao joined her voice to the chorus.

_The way of Mahora construct the foundation,  
so our future, will not be confused and lost.  
The wing in the chest give us the freedom we want,  
the learning campus, oh Mahora._

Looking back at her grandparents, Chao considered the things her grandfather wouldn't discuss with her. His recalcitrance gave her a feeling the time she'd spent in the past wasn't through just yet. In addition, there was still the missing Satomi Hakase, and her growing suspicion Satomi's absence was connected somehow to the disappearance of her twin sister. Still, as she turned back to the cheers, applause, smiles and positive feelings from everyone in the auditorium, especially Stephan Markham, she found the direction her life seemed to be heading in...

...most satisfying.

tsuzuku

(-)

**Author's Notes:**

**Mahora Academy Anthem.**

**This is perhaps an imperfect translation. Please forgive me if this is so. I'm not too familiar with the workings of google translators.**

**Hata on AQS was able to direct me to the places I needed to go to find this song.**

**Raymond Tatsumiya's Desert Eagle .50cal Action Express is a hand-me-down (If such a hand-cannon may be called by such a name!) from his Gunslinger-girl grandmother Mana.**

**About Eishun Sakurazaki.**

**With his wings clipped, he may never be able to fly without serious healing or cybernetic help from Chao Lingshen. Either way, with the death of his parents, his great-grandmother Setsuna may have to come and teach him how to fly!**

**Names for the children are taken from their 'ancestors' in the manga, or from characters known to their ancestors in; 'Ala Alba in the World of Magic: Tales From the Fireside.'**

**A listing of the named children, and when they first appeared:**

****

Raymond Tatsumiya. (Part 02.)  
Stephan Markham. (Part 02.) ( Through Madoka Kugimiya and Phillip Markham Jr.)  
Anju Okochi. (Part 03.)  
Sasuke Nagase. (Part 03.)  
Dawn Springfield. (Part 03.) (Evangeline - Nagi.)  
Eva Springfield. (Part 03.) (Chachamaru - Negi.)  
Michiko Aisaka. (Part 03.)  
Eko Izumi. (Part 03.)  
'Miss Tsuku.' (Part 03.) (Tsukuyomi.)  
Aki Narutaki. (Part 05.)  
Akito Narutaki. (Part 05.)  
Eishun Sakurazaki. (Part 05.)  
Tsuruko Konoe. (Part 05.)  
Momo Miyazaki. (Part 05.)  
Katrina Inugami. (Part 05.)  
Mayii Saotome. (Part 05.)

A listing of Chao Lingshen's surviving classmates.

Ayaka Yukihiro.  
Chachamaru Karakuri.  
Satomi Hakase. (Status unknown.)  
Konoka Konoe.  
Setsuna Sakurazaki.  
Yue Ayase.  
Asuna Kagurazaka.  
Yuuna Akashi.  
Chisame Hasegawa. (Cyber body.)  
Ku (Fei) Springfield.

**This list may reflect hoped for, and self-authored match-ups.**

**Part Six: A Lost Love.**


	6. Part 06: A Lost Love

Magister Negi Magi is owned by Ken Akamatsu and Kodansha Ltd. Tokyo in Japan, and by Funimation and Ballantine - DelRey in the United States, NOT by me.

AU ALERT! Depending on how you want to look at it, this story occurs before chapter one of the 'Magister Negi Magi' manga, or one-hundred YEARS after it ends.

(-)

"If they weren't already dead, I would have killed them over how close I was to my real goal for two and a half years."  
-Chao Lingshen. "My Journey."

(-)

Chao Lingshen. 'Coming Home.'

Part 06: A Lost Love.

(-)

Century Corporation. Late December, 2097.

"What happened?"

"We were successful."

"Then why didn't the subject return?"

"As far as we can tell, the subject came out in a severe thunderstorm, and was killed when the retrieval device was struck by lightning. An unexpected complication. We'll have to take better account of the weather when we send the actual operative. Also, there were issues with the barrier around Mahora, it caused a partial arrival location variance. We'll have to take that into account as well. Still, as I said, the experiment was a success."

"Very well. That subject was just part of the plan to obtain our 'real' operative anyway. There's no great loss in it's destruction."

(-)

Mountain forest preserve area, far side of Mahora Lake from Mahora Academy. Late December, 1997.

Silent and cautious, a ninja moved through the woods above Mahora Lake.

_("I am Kaede Nagase. Koga Ninja. I move through the woods silent like a breeze!")_

**"CRACK!"**

Wincing, Kaede Nagase lifted her Tabi-booted foot and looked down at the stick she'd just stepped on.

_("Silly girl! Her cousin was better than that at her age! Still, Master Masuda will be happy to hear the plan to see if Kaede had the courage to come out here on her own was successful!") Shaking it's head, the watcher sent by Kaede's cousin decided to dish out some of his own brand of motivation._

"Caw!" In a nearby tree a crow, who always seemed to be around when she made mistakes while practicing her ninja techniques, began to scold Kaede for disturbing it's rest. "Caw!" _("You are Kaede Nagase! Clumsy Oaf! You move through the woods like a herd of elephants!")_ "Caw-ack!" Jumping from it's branch, the crow dodged several 'Bo' throwing spikes, loosing a bit of one feather before getting away, still scolding her as it escaped.

_Looking back at a newly shortened tail-feather, Kaede's watcher gave a mental sweatdrop and flew off to find another tree to perch in. ("Ouch! Little Kaede's getting better at using those! I'd best be more careful!")_

"Darn it! Missed again!" Sighing in frustration, Kaede pulled climbing claws out of a storage pocket in her clothing, and prepared to go retrieve the Bo spikes she'd just thrown at the recurringly annoying crow.

Later that night, Kaede returned to the camp site her cousin Chiho Masuda had helped set up for her in the forested area across the lake from Mahora Academy. Normally Chiho came every other weekend to visit, help her train as a Koga Ninja, and evaluate her worthiness to continue. However, this weekend Chiho had called to say she was busy, and told Kaede not to worry about training. Kaede nearly cried after hanging up the phone. Two weeks earlier she'd been abysmally unsuccessful at everything she'd been instructed to try. Now, the unexpected, casual dismissal of their training made her afraid Chiho thought she was a failure. Determined to prove otherwise, she conspired with her roommates Fuka and Fumika Narutaki to mislead their dorm-mother, then snuck out to go train on her own.

Dinner was a cheating meal consisting of food Kaede had brought from the dorm cafeteria, since she still wasn't very good at finding sustenance in the woods. After finishing her chocolate-chip granola bar dessert, she retreated to her tent, foregoing the usual barrel bath in favor of shelter when lightning began to flash, and the first fat raindrops of a coming storm began to fall. Sealing herself inside, she sat cross-legged on her sleeping bag and placed both hands palm-down on splayed knees. Closing her eyes, she tried, despite the distraction of the growing storm, to copy the calm, meditative trance displayed during their training by Chiho. While the wind blew and rain pelted the tent's weather-cover, she thought about the various other lessons taught by her cousin, and tried to meditate on the reasons for her recent failures.

Outside the tent, the rain, wind, lightning and thunder began to increase in intensity, indicating the main part of the storm was rapidly approaching. Unexpectedly, a flash of lightning suddenly lit-up her tent like the noon-time sun on a clear day, Instantly there followed a ground shaking, deafening peal of thunder indicating the lightning strike had been uncomfortably close.

Sweating bullets, trying desperately not to jump up, tear her way out of the tent and run screaming in panic back down the mountain, Kaede told herself she was actually maintaining her meditative state while listening with relief as the storm finally began moving away.

"...help..."

Kaede opened her eyes at the sound of an unexpected, nearby voice.

"...please...it hurts..."

Quickly unsealing her tent, Kaede beheld in the brief illumination of a flash of lightning a thin, wild-haired young girl, standing near the completely rain-filled bath barrel in the shreadded remains of whatever clothing she'd been wearing.

Rushing out into the still falling rain, Kaede gently held up her unexpected guest up as the young girl began to shake uncontrolablly. Another flash of lightning revealed someone, seemingly no older than herself, who had been badly burned somehow. Her cousin had yet to teach her anything significant about first-aid, but something instinctive told her the girl would die if she didn't get help fast. Going back down the mountain normally to the train station outside the forest preserve would take an hour or more. However, if she went down the cliff-face trail and used her cousin's 'Light-Step' technique to cross Mahora Lake, she might reach the academy and help in less than half-an-hour. Looking down at the girl's black rimmed eyes, filled with pain and desperate hope, Kaede felt her conviction falter. She had never succeeded at the "Light-Step' before even on calm waters. How, with Mahora Lake settling but still covered by wind-driven waves, could she possibly do so now?

"Caw! Because you must, 'Sessho.' Caw!"

Kaede looked up at the bothersome crow, who stared unblinkingly back at her with an oddly calming gaze. Weather she believed a crow could actually speak or not, there was no one else around to help this girl except her. Nodding firmly, she took a deep breath to steel herself, reached down to pick the shivering girl up in her arms, then headed down the trail to Mahora Lake.

_Smiling inwardly in satisfaction, Kaede's watcher dropped from his perch and flew off to report what he'd seen. ("Yes indeed. I'm quite sure Master Masuda will be most pleased!")_

_(-)_

Takamichi Takahata stood under an umbrella near the shore of Mahora Lake. Having drawn the short straw this time, he watched from a discrete distance as Professor Hakase, Mahora Academy's wild-haired chief of Quantum Mechanics Research, performed Benjamin Franklin 'kite and key' conductivity experiments in the middle of the waning thunderstorm. The eccentric old man had never been hurt by his wild hobbies and other activities before, but Dean Konoe had decreed he be watched, 'Just in case,' and it was Takamichi's turn, so he watched.

"(-)sor Takahata!"

Squinting, Takamichi turned towards the sound of the unexpected voice and saw someone _'running across the surface of Mahora Lake!'_ Professor Hakase noticed the runner as well, and dropped his kite-string in stunned shock. However, when the person neared shore, seemed to 'trip' on a wavelet and fell into the water, Hakase instantly jumped into the lake and waded out to help. Collapsing his umbrella, Takamichi ran to assist as well.

Holding the shocky, burned girl, who had thrown her arms around him and now clung desperately to his neck in one arm, Professor Hakase helped a nearly hyperventilating Mahora Academy Elementary Division science class student he knew by her reputation for bad grades out of the lake with his other. Just as he reached the shoreline, Dean Konoe's assigned watchdog came running up. "Takahata! Call the hospital! This girl's been struck by lightning! Miss Nagase's been running in this rain, and she'll likely get sick as well!"

Pulling out his cell phone, Takamichi speed-dialed the Mahora emergency response number. While waiting for the summoned help, he took Kaede from Professor Hakase, then opened his umbrella and used it to shelter the four of them as best he could from the still falling rain. He didn't recognize the burned girl, but Kaede Nagase was a student in his art class. Slowly catching her breath, the completely soaked girl finally relaxed, and looked up at him with squinted eyes and a most serene smile.

"I... I did it Professor Takahata... I ran across the lake like a real ninja..."

Takamichi thought about the times he'd worked with Kaede's cousin Chiho Masuda and smiled. Professor Hakase was busy tending to the burned girl, and thankfully hadn't heard Kaede's whispered, feverish words. "Yes you did. I'm sure your cousin would be proud!"

Kaede turned in Professor Takahata's arms at the sound of emergency sirens. Seeing the flashing lights, she let out a sigh of satisfaction, then passed out. Coughing, softly, she fell into fevered dreams where she was a grown, skilled ninja, fighting dragons and rescuing hard-luck princesses.

(-)

Takamichi Takahata stood next dean Konoe's desk along with Shizuna Minamoto as Professor Hakase and the mysterious girl he had adopted bowed together, then left the room. After only two months, the girl was recovered enough to go to school, and Hakase had brought her in to thank Dean Konoe for the unexpected acceptance in Mahora Academy. Now he would deliver his adoptive granddaughter to the elementary school's Class 3A, then go on to his own duties. "What a bright, intelligent girl." Takamichi smiled. That was nearly an huge understatement. The strange girl Kaede Nagase had rescued had finally been driven from the hospital because she was starting to take apart the equipment in her room... as well as putting it back together again. "I wish she hadn't lost so much of her memory in that lightning strike." Takamichi shook his head, thinking about the complete failure to identify the girl by any means. "Maybe then she could tell us why her very existence is an impossibility."

Konoemon Konoe, Dean of Mahora Academy, nodded in response. Professor Hakase becoming the girl's guurdian had effectively been inevitable. Resisting sedation so she could be treated for her electrical burns, the young girl had screamed piteously, upset at being separated from her 'grandfather.' Professor Hakase finally came into the room after being examined because of his own dip in Mahora Lake and the girl finally calmed down. Tears in his eyes as she begged him not to leave again, he held her hand until the sedation finally took hold and the emergency room staff could begin treating her. During recovery, the girl would become more animated when Hakase would visit, calling him her grandfather, and for all intents treating him as such. Obviously such behavior was a clue to her origin, but the girl couldn't remember anything about her grandfather beyond that she loved him. "She probably won't look like she did before, but thanks to Miss Minamoto's healing magic, at least she won't be scarred permanently."

Shizuna Minamoto turned to lock her eyes with Dean Konoe's. "I have to say I've noticed some very peculiar traits while treating her. Have you sensed..."

Konoe nodded. "She's of the Springfield blood. There's no mistaking it."

Takamichi looked down at a crumpled piece of paper sitting on Konoe's desk. Not much on the single sheet of copy paper the girl had been clutching survived the rain and immersion in the lake except a date; sometime in December, 2097. Almost exactly one-hundred years in the future. "If this paper isn't some kind of hoax, do you think she's through Nekane? Or Negi?"

Konoemon reached up to rub at his beard. "Negi I should think. Quite close generationally as well, which is a surprise if the date on this paper is correct." Takamichi and Shizuna's eyes both went wide and Konoemon held them both with a firm gaze. "Tell NO ONE. This is a completely separate issue from anything involving Nagi Springfield. Because of the obvious sensitivity of this innocent girl's origins, we must be extremely cautious. For the moment, we'll just have to wait and see and deal with any problems when they arise."

Takamichi and Shizuna watched after the departed young girl and Professor Hakase, then answered Dean Konoe in unison. "Yes sir. We understand."

(-)

"Grandfather. I'll be joining this class in the middle of the semester... The other girls won't make fun of me, will they?"

Professor Hakase gave his adoptive granddaughter's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "Not at all. According to Dean Konoe, the girls in Class 3A may be a little eccentric, but they're all very friendly. I'm sure they'll welcome you with open arms!"

Nervously reaching up to adjust her glasses, Hakase's granddaughter looked up as a smiling teacher with dark brown hair stepped out of a classroom with '3A' hanging from a placard above it's door.

Professor Hakase handed his adopted daughter over to Professor Akashi, so that lady could take the girl in and introduce her to the rest of the elementary level Japanese Language, Class 3A homeroom she taught. Having suffered both the loss of his wife and son, the little girl he had named after his wife's hoped-for daughter was like a beacon of light in what had become an otherwise dull life. Now he had a reason for living again beyond simple existence. Even knowing she may have fixated on him as a substitute grandfather didn't matter. Her affection after two months was quite genuine, and that was good enough for him.

Looking out the door at her adopted grandfather, Hakase's granddaughter watched him worriedly for a moment, then turned to introduce herself to the room full of smiling girls when Professor Akashi prompted her to do so. Stepping forward, she waved at her friend Kaede Nagase, gave a bow, then straightened back up. "Hello! My name is Satomi Hakase! I hope to get to know everyone better really soon!"

Professor Hakase smiled at Satomi, who waved, then turned away to go to her seat. He returned the wave, then departed for his own class.

tsuzuku...tabun

(-)

**Author's Notes:**

**Satomi Hakase as Chao Lingshen's twin sister? Within 'Coming Home?' Certainly. Consider their similar intelligence, their ability to work together, (Identical twins 'linking,') and that Satomi 'has the ability necessary' for the performance of complex magic. (Her 'Springfield' blood.)**

**Why might Chao not notice? Because it would never occur to her. She believes her sister is still in the future. She would only think that she and Satomi are amazingly like minded and compatible.**

**Satomi has no idea because of the trauma of her memory loss. Again, Chao is simply someone who she works together with very well.**

**As for the differences in height? Blame it on the lightning, and that the Magical Circuitry Glyphs weren't the only body modifications Century Corporation made to Chao.**

**As for how it will be resolved? I'll not tell here, Suffice to say, it will be resolved. Consider 'Ala Alba in the World of Magic,' Chapter one: 'A Fan Dancer,' to be a clue as to when.**

**About Kaede and Chisame's reference to her in c012. Kaede Nagase and the Narutaki's join Mahora Academy earlier in this AU.**

**Look for 'Professor Hakase' in c132 when Chao goes to say good-bye to the people in the University Quantum Mechanics Research club. He's the one with the glasses and the wild hair.**

**Chiho Masuda is a Ninja from the 'Battling Waitresses' game Variable Geo.**

**This is it for the moment. Various possibilities have arisen since I started writing 'Chao Lingshen: Coming Home,' and there MAY be more chapters in the future. For now though, I must return to 'Ala Alba in the World of Magic,' which has only seen one chapter in the last two months!**

**Thanks again for reading 'Chao Lingshen: Coming Home!'**


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